The Crest of Rage
by Combat Master
Summary: FINALLY DONE The digidestined are called to help in Ireland, but something goes wrong. Now they have to put all their trust into a complete stranger. Lots of military action. Rated for bad language and occasional violence.
1. Prologue 1 The Library

_I don't own Digimon blah blah blah_

_I do own the Irish digidestined I made up blah blah blah_

_If you want to use them ask me first_

_This is my first ever fanfiction, so please review it so I can improve my stories_

_FYI, this takes place about a month after Season 2 _

_And now on with the story!_

_Enjoy!_

PROLOGUE 1 - The Library

The silence was broken as a boy sprinted down the glazed corridor. Above in the roof beams, three figures pursued him. They sensed something about him. Something drew them to him. One of the figures unsheathed a large sword and struck the boy on the left arm. The boy screamed in pain, but kept going, trying to ignore the deadened limb. He made it out of the glazed corridor and made it to the intersection with the library corridor. He quickly turned and slammed through the doors. He had never run this fast in his life. Not since that time he had gone to that…other world.

He finally reached the automatic doors that led into the library. They didn't open. "Damn it," the boy shouted. He couldn't have been more that eleven years old, some people said that he was tall for his age, but he didn't know. And right now it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was his mission. His duty. The door was jammed for some reason. He quickly drew the 9mm handgun his brother had given to him in case something like this happened and fired 2 shots at the chain that made up the opening mechanism, freeing the door. He glanced down the corridor as the three dark figures slowly approached. The boy opened the door and closed them behind him, and turned the knob that made up the inside lock. "That should slow youse down. Right" he spun around, "Next part – logon" He ran over to a console that was hidden behind some shelves. That might buy him a couple of seconds. As quick as he could type with his only good hand:

>Decoreilly  
>

The computer processed this data and displayed an answer:

>Username and password accepted  
>Logon script initiated

The computer now burst to life as it logged this frantic user on. The boy looked through the shelf at the door.

BANG

BANG

BANG

They were trying to kick the door through! He had to act fast. By the time he looked back down the console had finished logging on. After he used the mouse to select the E-Mail account, he started typing painfully slow (Literally) with his right hand onto the keyboard.

BANG

BANG

CRACK

The lock started to give way. Hurry up!

SMASH!

A dark claw made a small hole in the metal door and reached for the lock. "NO!" The boy whipped out his 9mm and fired three rounds at the hand. There was a blood-curling screech as the arm retracted into the hole. He dropped the M9 handgun and turned back to the console.

BANG

CRACK

BANG

CREAK

They were getting through! No. Not yet. He hadn't finished his objective. As his heart beat faster, a point on his chest started to glow.

BANG

SMASH!

The punished door finally gave way. He quickly pressed 'send'

>…  
>Message sent

There he had done it. He had finished his mission. He slowly turned around to see the three dark figures loom over him. One of them had blood dripping from three holes in his left arm.

"I have finished…my duty," the boy declared in a hoarse, tired voice. The glow on his chest stopped. He closed his eyes. "Do what you wish". The figures nodded in respect for the young boy's final words. "You put up quite the hunt, you got further than any other. You truly are one of the special ones," one of them said. The leader then punched the boy right across the face, knocking him unconscious immediately. He then turned to the others. "Take him to the lieutenant, he will be most pleased". They nodded, and one of them grabbed the body on the floor by the leg and dragged him out the door.

Just then, another dark figure entered holding a large black sack. He held it up to his leader. "I have captured his partner digimon. He could not put up much of a fight without water. What do you me to do with it?" The leader poked the large lump in the sack. "Good job. Take him to the machine and await transportation." The one carrying the sack swung it over his shoulder, and headed out the door. The leader soon followed, leaving the library empty…

…for now.


	2. Prologue 2 Delta two niner

_I also own this commando team_

_You know the drill_

PROLOGUE 2– Delta Team Two-niner

The Blackhawk helicopter stormed over the fields towards the large building that loomed on the horizon. There were four passengers.Two were armed with M16 rifles; one of which supported an M203 grenade launcher;one other had a SAW high calibre machine gun and the other had a PSG1 Semi-automatic sniper rifle. The all had .50 Desert Eagle handguns and had strapped to their belts and chest extra ammo magazines, Flash-bangs, Frag grenades and a combat knife. This was Commando team Delta two-niner. And they were the best of the best.

"OK, team. Heres the situation." The headsets worn by each team member crackled to life. "This school has been seized by terrorists and are assumed to have hostages. We have had absolutely no contact with them, all attempts at negotiation has failed. They are considered armed and extremely dangerous." One of the passengers clicked his microphone, "Hey Sarge, then how do we know this is a terrorist act. Could be just some guy with a gun." The sergeant responded, "Three police units and one SWAT team have entered. None returned. Over the radio we heard screaming and shouting before everything went dead." The four men looked at each other. "Looks like we're entering a really hellhole then," the one with the M203 said. The pilot's voice chirped in over the radio, "We're closing in on the town, ETA 2 minutes." The Sergeant started again, "You'll be inserted in a field approximately one and a half clicks (km) from the school building. From there you will travel on foot to the school and use an entrance to the lunch hall on the west side. Work your way through the building and secure any survivors, however your main objective is the execution of the offender". The pilot came back on, "ETA 30 seconds, arm up and get ready to hit the ground." The one with the M203 silently slid a grenade into the chamber. "What's that for?" asked the one with the SAW. "You know me, Psy, I like to be prepared." Thirty seconds later the Blackhawk hit the ground and the four passengers jumped out.

The leader went by the call sign 'Cap', short for captain. He wasn't a very well built man, but fast with his rifle (Which was the one with the M203 grenade launcher) and dedicated to getting all his team out alive. The Combat Engineer, call sign 'Sparky' was quite a small man, and the newest member of the team, but who needs strength when you disarm dummy Nuclear Warheads in your spare time? The heavy weapons member was, well, big. At 6'1" and of massive build, he was big in every way. His call sign, 'Psycho' came from the fact that he was in love with his M249 SAW. The final member was the sharpshooter and was of medium build. His call sign was 'Golden eye' due to the fact that his eyes were an unusual shade of yellow, but man, could this guy shoot. He passed through Sniper school with flying colours and brought his favourite PSG1, even thought thiswas classified as a 'Close Combat Mission'. All the team members looked towards the building in the distance. "Lets get those kids out alive team!" Cap stated. The hike had begun.

* * *

It only took thirty minutes for the Commando team to cross the two fields and small, evacuated housing estate between them and the school and make it to the metal fence on the west side of the site. It was about 3:00pm; usually when the students would be running out, glad for the school day to be over. There were none. The team passed through the gate in the middle of the fence and entered the door into the lunch hall. "Sparky, over to that table!" The small man ran over to a table and covered the others with his M16 as they moved across the hall. Nothing. Slowly but surely, they moved throughout this wing of the building, checking each room. They moved out of the lunch wing and reached a large open area know to the kids as the rec room (Short for Recreational). In the centre of the room was a flight of stairs that led up to a crossroads that separated into the Science Department, Technology Department, and the library corridor, which was located in the middle of the building, and one of many ways to the east wing. It was in science that they found the first classroom…and they wish they hadn't. Psycho was the first inside and immediately froze. "Oh, shit!" The rest of the team entered and also froze. There were students here, they looked like third years, but they didn't take any notice of the four strange men dressed in army fatigues that just entered the room. That is because they were all dead. All of them. They all had some sort of stabbing wound in the back. Cap swept around the room checking for any survivors. None. Golden eye turned to the others; "Lets get the _hell_ out of here, never return and forget it ever happened." "You have no idea how good that sounds" Sparky moaned as the four sickened men left the room of death. 

The corridor to the technology wing was a modern, bridge-like structure leading over the central courtyard area with glassed sides and a wooden roof with the joists showing. But it wasn't this spectacular structure that had transfixed the commando team. It was the trail of blood that stared near the middle of it and went down the library corridor. They followed it up to the library door, which held a new surprise. The door was supposed to be a solid metal sliding automatic door, but instead it lay bent and with a hole near the right hand side. But Golden eye noticed some extra detail. "Look Cap, bullet casings!" The team looked at the two cylindrical pieces of metal that meant so much. Psycho looked at them. "Hmmmm…9 millimetre, probably from an M9 handgun, and I'm guessing whoever fired them is also the owned of this blood trail, which I might add, goes under the door meaning that it was kicked down after him." The rest of the team nodded and followed the trail into the library, where it ended in a small pool of blood.

"That's strange." Cap looked confused, "It just stops"

Cap found three more bullet casings beside pool, and also an M9 handgun, just as Psycho had guessed. "CAPTAIN!" Sparky's voice barked over the radio. "There's someone in the corridor!" Sparky was over at the library door. Cap swung around. Sparky would only have used the radio if he wanted to keep quiet. Not good.

The Commando team froze. Finally, either a survivor…or the murderer. The three other men slowly walked over to Sparky's side. "How d'ya know?" Cap queried. "I heard the door to the East wing open!" There was an element of fear in the young man's voice. "Lets get him, jump out in three, two, one…" All four men jumped out the door and pointed their guns down the corridor. "FREEZE!" Cap shouted. Nothing. The corridor was as empty as they had left it. "Sparky" said Cap angrily, "There's nobody here!" "Cap, I got a bad feeling about this…" Golden eye's voice seemed shaky. It was the last thing he said.

WHOOOOSH! A large sword swung from the ceiling and cut Golden eye's head clean off. His limp body fell to the ground. Everyone tuned around. "Tommy!" Sparky yelled. "What did I tell you about using real names! Now come on!" Cap snarled at Sparky before grabbing his and Psycho's shoulder and running down the hall. "What was tha…AHHHH" yelled Psycho as a large figure appeared from the ceiling and stabbed him in the back. The other two men turned around. "YOU BACKSTABBING SON OF A BITCH!" shouted Sparky as he and Cap raised their rifles and fired ten rounds each before the figure disappeared. "What on earth was that Cap?" Sparky urgently asked. Cap was stunned. In less than ten seconds, one of his men had been decapitated and the other was stabbed in the back. "Cap? CAP!" Sparky was stricken with fear. He nervously tracked his gun around the corridor before Cap came to his senses and said one small but very effective word, "Run". Sparky wasted no time sprinting towards the door to the east wing, closely followed by Cap. They reached a T-junction, right goes to the Computer department, the other to Social Studies. They ran left, before Cap stopped. "Cap, come on!" Sparky impatiently yelled. "No. You go on. Get out. Evacuate the town. I'll be fine". Cap turned round to be confronted by a large, black figure. The two commandos looked at each other in the eyes. Sparky simply whispered, "Take care" and ran down the English corridor.

The two leaders confronted each other. After about three second, Cap whipped up his M16 and fired the M203 that he had loaded on the Blackhawk. The Chopper. God, that fells like days ago. However, it had only been two hours. The grenade hit the murderer square on the chest, but it didn't even flinch. Cap looked in amazement. "What the f…" Those were his last words as another figure appeared behind him and dug it's long claws into the back of Cap's head. He was dead instantly. The two figures growled to each other. "One left. The hunt is still on". The other nodded and both disappeared.

* * *

"Shit oh Shit oh Shit oh Shit oh Shit…" Sparky panted as he ran as fast as he could down the narrow corridor. He could see a door at the other end. Freedom, he thought. Just as he reached the door and kicked it open, a muffled explosion echoed down the corridor. He turned around, "That was Cap's grenade launcher".He shook his head. No, must focus on my mission. He turned to the open door and almost ran into one of the dark ninjacreatures. Sparky fell backwards. The thing drew his sword and pierced it straight thought Sparky's stomach. His body went limp. The figure removed his sword and put it back in its sheath. Another figure appeared just above Sparky's head. "We killed the other. They were all clean. Not special at all". The one that had killed Sparky roared. 

"The lieutenant will not be pleased. We have only found one and have waited long enough. Why don't we just leave?"

"Patience, brother. Give the humans time."

"Hey, Jackasses!"

The two figures snapped there heads down at the body they presumed was dead. In his right hand, which he was holding up, was a small metal cylinder with a trigger and a button. In his left, however, was a large lump of white clay with a smaller antenna. "Eat this" He pulled the trigger and then pressed the button.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

If the point-blank explosion of the C4 plastic explosive didn't kill them, the falling rubble from the floors above must have. About five metres of the corridor collapsed, revealing the History floor above.

And then all was silent once more.


	3. The Message

Chapter 1 - The Message

"Come on Izzy, what's going on?" TK was getting impatient.

"Sorry. Got to wait for everyone. That's why I told you to get all the digidestined to come here after school. If I told you now, that would defeat the purpose of why I asked you in the first place."

"What is the reason?"

Izzy smiled, "So I don't have to repeat myself every time someone comes"

TK sighed. He and Izzy had been alone in the computer room for ages now and no one had come yet. Practically as he thought this, Tai and Sora entered, closely followed by Kari and Yolei, all of which had their partners with them.

"Hi Izzy, TK. What's going on?" said Tai.

Izzy looked around at the 5 digidestined. "Wait a second, where's the others."

"Well, Davis is at soccer practice" Tai told Izzy.

"Matt's practicing for a gig next weekend" TK added

Izzy thought for a second, "Mimi's still in New York, but where's Cody and Ken"

"They both have the flu," TK told the crowd of Digidestined.

"So come on Izzy, what is it?" asked Sora

"No. This morning I received an E-Mail from an Irish digidestined called Declan O'Reilly"

Tai looked surprised, "Really. What did he say? Was he congratulating us on our recent victories?"

"No", Izzy looked troubled, "Actually, he was asking for our help. Take a look for yourself"

Izzy opened an E-Mail, which read:

**From:** help

**Text:** Help! Please! We don't have much time left! Our school got attack by some sort of digimon. They're really powerful and we couldn't beat them. They've killed everyone now they're after me and my brother! I have attached a program my brother made that will let you use your digiport to get here. Please hurry!

The digidestined just stared at the message, reading it over and over.

"Well, I'm ready, lets go!" Tai jumped up.

"OK, but be careful. It might be a trap." Izzy warned them

"Don't worry, we'll be careful" Yolei comforted Izzy.

"Alright, but I'll stay here and AHEM monitor the situation" smiled Izzy

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" Tai took out his digivice and was closely followed by the others. Izzy opened the digiport and then ran the attachment program that Declan had sent. It produced a bit of static at first, but then opened the familiar digiport screen. Izzy looked at it.

"Amazing! It's bypassed the core programming of the digiport to travel to co-ordinates outside the digital world!"

Everyone except Yolei looked at Izzy with that I-don't-have-a-clue-what-you-just-said-and-also-don't-care look.

"Ooookkay. Digiport open!" said Tai, that familiar white light sucked the children to it's destination.


	4. Welcome to Ireland

Chapter 2 - Welcome to Ireland

The group set down in the school's library, beside the very computer that had sent an E-Mail to them just two days beforehand. The digimon all digivolved to rookie before Sora noticed something:

"Look. Blood" They all looked down at the small pool of dried blood Sora was pointing out. Behind it was a small trail of blood. "It might lead us to someone, let's follow it." They moved two steps around a bookcase, before they were confronted with even more evidence.

Tai knelt down beside three spent cartridges and picked up the M9 handgun. Tai was surprised, "A gun? What's this doing here?" The others were confused too. He fiddled with it until he found the safety, clicked it on, then put the gun into his pocket. "There are shells all over the place," Kari pointed at the 2 other shells just outside the broken down door.

The group walked out the door before noticing two dead bodies lying on the floor. One of which, had no head. They tried to ignore them but the smell of death was overwhelming.

Tai looked down both corridors leading in opposite directions. "Ok, here's the plan. We're going to split up. Me, Kari and Sora will go this way" he thumbed in the direction the blood trail was going, towards west wing, "Yolei and TK, you go that way," he pointed towards the door leading to east wing. They all nodded and went their separate ways.

TK and Yolei headed through the door to the east wing. "Here we go again" TK walked toward the beheaded body of a certain Dominic 'Cap' Spencer. "You, might want to look away," said TK as he walked between Yolei and the body "Gladly" she turned around and walked towards the computer room a few metres away. The window was blacked out with cardboard for some reason.

TK looked at the body. It was a gruesome sight. There was a large lake of dried blood at the neck where the head had been. Strangely, there was no sign of the head itself. TK was sure it was the body of a Commando or something according to the combats he was wearing. He never noticed that the body did not have its flak jacket, rifle, any grenades or a handgun. TK just moved on. "OK Yolei, lets move on" Yolei walked past the body making sure her head was turned in the opposite direction.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tai, Sora and Kari had reached the west wing, and the two girls nearly threw up when they reached the science department. "Ok, time to follow the trail of blood down this corridor" The walked out onto the glazed corridor, where they found the blood trail suddenly stopped. They took two steps past the end of the trail before they noticed movement on the other side. Through the double doors that led to the music and languages department, about a dozen masked men, completely clothed in black and holding M4 carbines entered. 

They immediately moved into 2 rows of six, the first row knelt down. "Errr, we come in peace" Tai waved at the crowd. They replied by removing the safeties on their rifles. "Ok, they don't like us" He turned to the two petrified girls behind him. "Digivolve" The three digimon nodded.

"Agumon warp digivolve to Wargreymon"

"Biyomon digivolve to Birdramon"

"Gatomon armour digivolve to Nefertimon"

The three digimon stood in front of their partners, causing the dark riflemen to open fire, all at the same time. The hailstorm of bullets ripped into Birdramon, who was too big to dodge them. She immediately reverted to Biyomon.

"Terra Force!" The massive orb slammed into the line of troops, scattering them everywhere.

Nefertimon was about to attack when Kari fell to the ground. Behind here was a dark figure with a sword in its sheath. "Wargreymon!" Tai called his digimon to attack, but it was too late. Two other dark ninjas appeared behind Sora and Tai, hitting their necks in a way that knocked them cold. Without their partners, Wargreymon and Nefertimon soon regressed to Agumon and Salamon. The remaining riflemen reloaded simultaneously. Their job was done, so they immediately turned and heaed back into the music department.

The Dark figures rounded up the weakened digimon, and stuffed them into black sacks. One of them carried the two sacks, while the others picked up the three digidestined on the ground and onto their shoulder. Then they silently disappeared.

* * *

TK and Yolei had reached the end of the English corridor, and were confronted with a large section of the history corridor above. "Some sort of cave-in?" TK suggested. Patamon and Hawkmon had flown up into the exposed corridor above. When they returned, they simply reported that there were more classrooms of death, just like the ones down this corridor. 

Suddenly, in the background, they heard gunshots. They spun around, to hear where it was coming from. "That's coming form the direction Tai and the others went!" Yolei sounded frightened. Their digimon went infront of them.

"Have no fear Yolei, I shall protect you" Hawkmon stood ready to fight

Just then, about six masked men walked up to the end of the corridor. They each held an M4 Carbine, and wasted no time arranging into two rows of three, the front row kneeling down. They all pointed their rifles at TK and Yolei.

The two digidestined just stared at their doom, until suddenly, the six men exploded and were flung all over the place.

"GET DOWN!"

The two kids couldn't hear where this was coming from, but they just hit the floor anyway. Just in time too, as two bursts of bullets flew over them and hit their target…behind them.

TK looked around to see another two dark ninja like figures collapse on top of the rubble. They both looked to where the riflemen had been. The smoke had cleared and they could see a teenager, no older than 17 standing with an M16/M203 held up against his shoulder. He yanked out the magazine; put it into the flak jacket he was wearing, pulled off another and slammed it backed into the rifle. This took about three seconds.

The boy walked over to the two digimon, who stood up ready to attack. "Don't come any closer mister!" Patamon said bravely, even thought he was paralysed with fear.

The boy simply put the rifle strap over his shoulder, and stepped over the two digimon standing in his way. He put his hands out to help TK and Yolei up, but they just sat there on the floor. "Don't worry, I ain't here to hurt ya. In fact, I just saved your asses" he said. The two digidestined grabbed his hand and got up. "Errrr…thanks" TK was quite shaken after that attack. He turned to the two who had tried to sneak up on them.

"Who are they? What the hell is going on?"

"All shall be revealed later"

The boy turned to Yolei, who was just staring at him dreamily. "You're not from around here are you?"

Yolei snapped out of it and replied, "No, how'd you know"

"Purple hair."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, it's just uncommon around here"

"Who are you?" TK asked

"Name's Patrick O'Reilly, and I think you're going to have to come with me"


	5. Patrick's Story

Chapter 3 – Patrick's Story

As the three children and two digimon walked through the lit corridors, Yolei got a good look at him.

He was about 6 foot tall with dark brown hair and matching eyes, eyes that seemed to be bloodshot with tiredness. He was wearing a flak jacket that had the name 'Kevin 'Sparky' Clarke' written on the front. The jacket seemed to be covering a ripped and tattered uniform. He looked so…tough. Yolei stared daydreaming again, but came to her senses when Patrick reached his destination.

Patrick knocked on a door. It was the same room that Yolei had noticed was blacked out.

"Password" A voice came from behind the door

" 'I need a weapon' " He replied.

The door slowly opened and Patrick pushed the children and digimon through before closing the door and locking it quietly behind him. The computer room was dimly lit, only slightly illuminated by the number of computers that were on around the place.

TK looked behind him to see who had opened the door. All he could see were two amber eyes staring at him.

"Who…" TK started but was interrupted when the small person revealed himself.

"I'm BlackAgumon" He looked at Patrick, "Paddy's partner"

Yolei stared at Patrick, "You're a…digidestined?"

Patrick produced a steel-coloured D3 and waved it infront of him.

"I think you got some explaining to do" TK asked firmly.

"Names first please"

"Oh, sorry, my name's Takeru Takishi, but you can just call me TK. This is my partner, Patamon"

"I'm Yolei Inoue, and this is Hawkmon"

Patrick switched on a small lamp in the middle of the room, revealing what could only be described as an armoury. All the small tables in the room that didn't have consoles on them were put together to make one giant surface. There were handguns, machine guns, magazines, an assortment of grenades, as well as grenade launchers. At the end there was a massive heavy machine gun andmany other flak jackets of varying sizes.

"Ok TK and Yolei, here goes." Patrick started, "It all began three days ago, on Monday…."

* * *

Patrick walked down the massive glazed corridor, and then turned left into the library corridor, towards Maths. He sighed. Today was the final day for his coursework. He'd have to ask his teacher to let him out to get it printed in the computer room. When he arrived at the classroom, his teacher, Mr. McNeill stared at him through his thick glasses and held up his hand. 

"Coursework" he demanded.

"Oh yeah, I'll go get it" he dropped his bag and turned around

"Patrick O'Reilly! How are you ever going to succeed in life if you never have anything in on time? You're brother is much more punctual with his work" Mr. Mc Neill started one of his famous lectures but was cut short by Patrick.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, but I actually have it done this time. I just need to go print it sir"

The old teacher growled, "Very well. But if I find you mucking about I'll personally take you to the principal's office."

Patrick turned to leave but was stopped again. "And don't even think about hacking into the exam board and stealing coursework examples again!"

Patrick ignored this last order and set out for the computer room. When he got there, he looked through them window in the door to see that the room was empty, again. He walked in and closed the door behind him, then discovered that there was someone here. Rory MacNamara, the IT Technician, and an archenemy of Patrick. He was the administrator of the school's network, and the one that had severely downgraded his account after a few…incidents. All he could do now was create and print documents. No E-Mail, no chat-rooms, nothing. Of course, when had a few measly password encryptions stopped him?

"Hey Rory! What's up?" Patrick walked over to him when he got no reply, "Rory?" The technician was sitting at a desk with a large cardboard box sitting on it, obviosly some new hardware. He stopped when he reached the back of his chair and noticed a horrifying detail. There was a large hole in the back of the plastic chair, like someone had stabbed a knife straight through into his body. Patrick spun the chair around. Rory's limp body fell to the floor. Patrick panicked. "Oh shit!".

He immediately charged out of the room and up to his Maths room. He stopped outside the door when he heard screaming from inside. He peered through the glass and was paralysed. Inside, two black figures were walking through the class, slashing away at the pupils some tried to run, but were immediately caught and stabbed.

Patrick just stared. His friends, classmates, they were all dead. As much as he hated Mr. McNeill, he had never wished him dead. He ran back to the computer room, where he slammed the door shut, took Rory's keys and locked it. He sat down at a console and logged on. While it was logging on, he took of his blazer, and removed the USB memory stick from its pocket. The first worry he had was his brother. Was he Ok? Where was he? Patrick thought for a moment. "Errrrr…Biology!" He thought aloud.

He booted up a chat session with Declan. Of course, this was blocked, but Patrick easily bypassed it and logged on. Usually, Rory would be immediately notified of this, but he didn't seem in much of a position to do anything about it.

Meanwhile, Declan was hiding in the storeroom of a science classroom. What the hell had just happened? He had just gone into the storeroom for _5 minutes_ to use the computer and in that time these things had came in and slaughtered the entire class! They were gone now but who wasn't to say they wouldn't come back? Suddenly, the console beside him beeped softly, signalling that a chat session had been requested. Declan sat down and accepted the request. Its was Patrick!

PATOREILLY> r u ok?

DECOREILLY> yeah, but what happened? My class was killed!

PATOREILLY> mine 2 + it seems we're the only ones left

DECOREILLY> where r u?

PATOREILLY> it dept

DECOREILLY> what r we going 2 do?

PATOREILLY> we need 2 regroup

DECOREILLY> ok

PATOREILLY> when I give the signal RUN

DECOREILLY> ok, here goes

Patrickunlocked the door, then walked outand stepped over to the end of the library corridor. At the other end he could see Declan. Patrick cautiously looked around. The corridor was empty. Patrick waved his hand at Declan, who wasted no time sprinting down the corridor. Within 10 seconds they were all safe in the computer room.

Declan stopped to catch his breath, while Patrick ripped upthe cardboard box andstuck it to the window in the door, for extra secrecy. He also closed all the blinds, plunging the room into darkness. Declan switched the lights on.

"OK…so what…now?" Declan was still quite breathless

"Well first, we set up camp, that's here"

"Camp? We're…staying here?"

Patrick stared down into his brother's eyes and said, "I am not leaving until every last one of those bastards are _dead_."

Declan nodded, "And I'm not leaving...your side"

* * *

"Well, that's sorta the end of it" Patrick shrugged his shoulder, "We stayed here for a day, as wave after wave of police units and swat teams entered the building and were promptly, killed. Me, Declan and our digimon went down on Monday night and salvaged all this weaponry from the bodies. Most of it anyway, some is from the commando team." 

"That's terrible!" Yolei sounded shocked

"That's war," said Patrick who turned to sit at a console

"Hang on, what did you by 'sorta' the end of it. And where is your brother" TK asked

Patrick stopped, "I was afraid you'd ask that" He turned around, "Put simply, _they_ got him"

"Oh…I'm sorry to here that" TK looked down at his feet. He shouldn't have asked that.

"It's ok, I've still got hope. For some reason they didn't instantly kill Declan. Instead they knocked him out and took him to the gym"

"Why the gym?"

"That's where they came from. They've got some sort of portal machinery down there. They used it to send Declan to…well…wherever it goes"

"Hold on" TK put his hands up, "Backtrack a second. Your brother is digidestined as well?"

"Aye"

"Who's his digimon?"

"Penguinmon"

"Right, okay let's review" Yolei began, "Three days ago this school was attacked by strange beings. They killed everyone _except_ you and your brother who are both digidestined"

"Are the any other Irish digidestined?" TK asked

"Aye, but they don't go to this school"

"Then why didn't they come?"

"Same thing probably happened to their school"

"Right, anyway, there have been loads of attempts to enter and kill the beings, none have succeeded. You took all their weapons and brought them here."

"Yeah, that seems correct so far"

"Then you called for us to help…"

"Woowa, hold up. I didn't call for you two. Declan did."

"Oh yeah, didn't Izzy say that the E-Mail was sent by a Declan O'Reilly?" TK asked

"Yeah, but why did he send it?"

"I don't know. He went up to music to huntsaw someriflemen go up their alone. He took only an M9handgun, but the next time I saw him was on the library camera, sending an E-Mail. Then the ninja things got him."

"Oh…"

"Wait, who the hells Izzy?"

"Another digidestined along with us"

"You're not the only two?"

"No, in fact, there are one, two, three…" TK started counting

"Eleven" Yolei simply said

"What? There's fucking _eleven_ of youse?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Well there's three of us here in Ireland and I thought that was a lot…wait, did others come with you?"

"Yeah, some- Tai, Sora and Kari"

"Where did they go" Patrick sounded urgent

"Err…. the other way down the library corridor. Why, did you see them?"

"No, that's the problem" Patrick swung round to a console and started typing furiously. He opened up what looked like a CCTV monitoring system. He started rewinding the one looking down the glazed corridor and stopped when he saw movement. They watched as Tai, Kari and Sora walked down the corridor, only to be ambushed by some of those riflemen. Their digimon digivolved, and were so caught up in the fight, that they never noticed the ninjas things come up behind their partnersand knock them cold.

Thesixjust stared at the screen.

"Well, at least they didn't kill them" TK turned around

"I'm starting to see a pattern here, they are only killing normal people and kidnapping digidestined" Patrick thought

"I see where your coming from, but why would they want us?" Yolei asked

"Don't know, but what I do know is that your friends have been captured by the enemy. In a couple of hours they'll be taken through that portal to God knows where…"

Patrick walked over to the middle, reached under the table and retrieved a large barrelled rifle with a massive scope on it. He yanked out the magazine, made sure it was full, then slammed it back in again.

"…and I'm gonna save them…" he snapped back the breach, loading a fresh bullet into the chamber, "…you coming?"


	6. The Battle of the Gym

Chapter 4 –The Battle of the Gym

Kari slowly opened her eyes. God, her neck was throbbing with pain. The last thing she remembers was going into the glazed corridor. Then what? Oh yeah! They were attacked, and then everything went black.

Kari started to look around. Her arms seemed to be tied behind her back pretty tightly. They weren't going to budge. She sat up to see that her brother and Sora were lying on the floor beside her, unconscious. Then she heard a noise behind her. She looked around and her eyes went wide.

There, sitting proud in front of them was a huge machine. In the center, and what seemed to be the main component, was a large circular platform, about 5 meters in diameter. At opposite ends stood two pillars about 2 meters high and were both supporting large dishes, like satellite ones you get at home, but a bit bigger and without a receiver.

Alongside this structure were many computer consoles. Riflemen a lot like the ones that attacked them were using them. They looked like they were activating it. One of the men was wearing huge amounts of armour plating and a mask like the others, was walking up and down the row of computers, inspecting disused ones. He must be the boss, Kari thought.

Just then, she heard a moan. Tai opened his eyes and sat up. When he realised that his arms were tied behind his back, he looked around and turned to Kari. "What the hell happened? Where's Agumon?"

Kari eyed two sacks beside Tai that had large lumps in them "I think that's them"

"Quiet over there!" A rifleman walked over to the two siblings. "The portal's almost ready. Prepare yourselves" he looked down at Sora, "And wake sleeping beauty there"

Tai elbowed Sora in the side. "Wake up!" Sora shifted slightly and sat up "Whaaaa….." She was cut off when the doors to the gym opened up and about 20 riflemen and 5 ninja things entered and stood in front of the 'portal'.

* * *

"Youse in position?" Patrick's voice came over the radio. TK pressed the microphone button on the headset Patrick had given him. 

"Yep. Yolei and I are in position," he whispered

"Good. Plant the charge. Yolei, you try to get the message to Tai"

TK turned and nodded to Yolei. She nodded back and looked through the window in the door. About 3 minutes ago, and army of those dark figures had entered the gym and were now standing in front of a strange machine. They were waiting for something...

Yolei looked at their three friends lying on the floor. They were also looking at the machine, as if they were waiting for something as well. Yolei took out her D-Terminal and typed a message to Tai…

* * *

Tai felt a buzz in his pocket. It must be my D-Terminal, he thought; so he tried to reach down to see who it was, when he was reminded that he was tied up. "Hey. Kari!" Tai whispered over to his sister. 

Kari turned around, "What is it?"

"My terminal, can you get it out?"

She looked puzzled, "Ok…I'll try"

The two siblings sat back to back as Kari reached into her brother's pocket and took out his D-Terminal. "Got it," she said

Tai turned around, "Great, now try and open it"

Kari fumbled with it behind her back, but managed to get it open, and with Tai's directions, opened the new message.

"Good work. Now lets see…Yolei! She's ok!"

"What about TK?"

"Errrr…yeah he's ok too"

Kari sighed with relief. Tai continued to read the message, then told the others about it.

* * *

Yolei turned to TK beside her. He had finished planting the small C4 charge on the locked door, just as Patrick had shown him. "Got it," she whispered into her mic. "Good," Patrick's voice came over the radio, "Get ready, I'm opening up" The two digidestined took an M9 handgun from their pockets, flicked off the safety and turned to their digimon. "Ready" they whispered. Patamon and Hawkmon nodded. Yolei looked down at the gun in her hand. When she got up this morning, she had absolutely no idea that by the evening she would be about to shoot someone…

* * *

Patrick turned to Blackagumon behind him. He was looking up and down the corridor, "Ready?" Blackagumon nodded in reply. Patrick turned back round to the window and the small hole he had broken out. He and Blackagumon were inside a classroom on the History corridor. 

Patrick brought the PSG-1 sniper rifle up to his shoulder and looked thought the scope. From this room he had an _almost_ perfect view of the gym. They would have chosen a room further down, but the floor was sort of…well…missing.

He looked through the windows of the gym and could see that there was an entire army down there, just like TK had said. He slowly scanned the crosshairs over the scene, before settling on an attack plan. "Here goes…"

* * *

Sora looked around in confusion. Tai had just woken her up about 5 minutes ago to find herself, Tai and Kari on the floor of some sort of gym. She had seen the message Yolei had sent and now they knew what to do. 

Suddenly there were six bangs; the first smashed a glass window, but each one was followed by one of the ninja things collapsing. Now they were all gone and the remaining riflemen looked around in confusion. Tai, Kari and Sora jumped up and bowed forward just as Yolei had instucted. A second later, a bullet ripped through the ropes, freeing him. The now free Tai wasted no time at all taking out his handgun. Once they were free, the two girls went over to free their digimon, as Tai turned round and started firing at the riflemen, who were still utterly confused.

BOOOOOOM! The C4 charge blew the door to pieces.

"Patamon digivolve to Angemon"

"Hawkmon armour digivolve to Halsemon"

The two digimon charged into the room and started attacking the riflemen, and were soon followed by their partners, who stayed at the opening they had created and opened up with their handguns.

* * *

Patrick looked down at the battle going on down in the gym about 50 meters in front of him. He turned to Blackagumon, who was waiting at the door. "Lets go" They both ran out the door.

* * *

Sora and Kari fiddled with the knots in the top of the sacks. The digimon inside had woken up and were squirming around trying to free them, to no avail. Finally Kari got her bag open. Agumon popped out and looked around. 

"What's going on?"

"No time to explain. Help Tai!"

"Will do! He ran over to Tai, who was hiding behind a nearby console, frantically trying to work out how to un-jam his sidearm.

"Tai! I'm ready!" Tai looked up at Agumon and promptly dropped his gun in favour of his digivice.

"Go!" He said, holding it up

"Agumon warp-digivolve to Wargreymon" Wargreymon wasted no time attacking the riflemen.

With this enormous battle going on, nobody actually noticed the riflemen that were at the consoles at the back of the room, along with their leader.

"Lieutenant, shall we fight?" one asked

"No, continue with the activation procedure. I have a plan," The lieutenant ordered.

Sora got her's open, and out jumped Salamon and Biyomon. The two digimon hurried to their partner's sides. They looked ready. The two girls took out their digivices as the two fearless digimon ran into combat.

"Biyomon digivolve to Birdramon!"

"Salamon digivolve to Gatomon!"

Suddenly the front wall of the gym exploded. Everyone in the room stopped to check out this new threat. There was so much smoke and dust in the air that no one could see the culprit.

"Terra Destroyer!"

The orb hurled through the dust and smashed into a collection of riflemen about to get in formation. It was closely followed by a Blackwargreymon, who landed in the middle of the room and wasted no time hacking away at some nearby riflemen.

Patrick jumped through the hole Blackwargreymon had made, raised his M16/M203 rifle and nailed a rifleman.

"Go Blackwargreymon! Kick their asses!"

Patrick crouched behind a large piece of rubble and fired his rifle over it a few times. He ducked down to reload when he realised he had visitors. Kari and Sora were sitting beside him, both looking a mixture of scared and confused.

"You…you must be Declan…" Sora said shakily.

Patrick jumped up and nailed a few incoming riflemen before crouching back behind the rubble.

"No, Declan is an AHEM associate of mine. Patrick O'Reilly's me name, pleased to meet ya" He looked at the two petrified girls, "And youse are…"

"Oh sorry…I'm Sora and this is Kari…Tai's sister"

"Pleased to…HEADS UP!" A rifleman suddenly appeared behind Sora and aimed at her head. Patrick jumped up and almost reflexively slammed the butt of his gun into the firgure's face. There was a sickening 'crack' as the nose was broken up into its brain. Death was instantaneous, however, that didn't stop him getting a few rounds of. Thankfully, the force of the sudden melee attack flung the thing off balance, so the two rounds it did get off missed Sora completely…

...and hit Kari.


	7. Enter Warmarinedramon

Chapter 5 – Enter Warmarinedramon

The two bullets hit Kari right in the left shoulder. She lurched back, screaming in pain. Tai turned around. "KARI!" He fired his final round downrange then sprinted across the battlefield to his fallen sister.

Patrick looked down as Tai fell Kari's side, and felt her pulse. "Barely anything…" he muttered. He looked at his unconscious sister's wound and started whispering to her. "Come on, don't die on me…"

By this time, Yolei and TK had come over to help Tai. Seeing their fallen comrade, the digimon fought even harder, but to no avail.

Rage filled Patrick's eyes. Those bastards! They were going to pay! He removed his Desert Eagle and dumped it beside Sora, along with a few magazines for it and the other's M9s and a roll of bandages. She looked up at Patrick. "Defend yourself, and patch Kari up. Try to stop the bleeding. I'll remove the bullets later" He said. Sora noticed that his tone had changed completely! He was no longer light hearted, but stern and angry. A point on his chest started glowing brightly.

Patrick ran out into the battlefield, dropping his weapon and took out his digivice. "Balckwargreymon!" He yelled. His partner finished mauling a poor rifleman to pieces and turned to Patrick. When he saw the look in the boy's eyes he knew what to do. Charged towards him, and was just about to impact when the light on Patrick chest exploded, engulfing him and his digimon.

Everyone in the gym stopped and turned around to see the blinding spectacle that was there.

"Biomerge to Warmarinedramon!"

Suddenly the light stopped and in Patrick's place was now a large figure. He looked a lot like Blackwargreymon, except he had human features instead of dinosaur ones. The huge gauntlets were removed and now he just had camo gloves. In fact, all his armour was coloured in a camouflage pattern.

The new digimon stood infront of the now diminished army of riflemen. There were only a few now. Warmarinedramon stood on the M16 Patrick had dropped and kicked it in a way that flicked it up into his waiting arms. He brought it up to his shoulder and aimed it at the remaining riflemen. "DIE!" He yelled in a mixture of Blackwargreymon and Patrick's voice as he flicked the fire-selection into full-auto and opened up on the unlucky riflemen. The figures were completely blown away…quite literally…by the onslaught.

Warmarinedramon only stopped to reload, which only took about two seconds. It seem that he was far faster and had better reflexes than even Blackwargreymon.

Suddenly, the large platform in the middle of the gym started wining. Everyone looked at it as a bolt of electricity shot between the two dishes and froze in a long bar. This bar slowly flattened out into large white disk…a portal.

The digimon could only watch in horror as about twenty of the ninja things emerged from the portal and landed in the gym. They wasted no time unsheathing their swords and charging for the digimon.

"Terra Force!"

The orb smashed into the new group of enemies, but had no effect. "What!" Wargreymon shouted in confusion.

Warmarinedramon raised his rifle and fire a short burst at an oncoming ninja. It's head exploded and it fell to the ground, dead. The digimon turned to their newest ally. "Aim for the head. No armour there!" Yelled Warmarinedramon. The digimon nodded as they went into melee mode, aiming for the head.

Meanwhile, as the digimon fought the newest attack, the digidestined sat at the front of the room, behind the large chunk of rubble from the wall behind them.

"Come on! We gotta help our digimon!" Yolei told the others

"What can we do?" Sora asked

"We've got weapons, haven't we? Use them. Bullets seem to be much more effective against those ninja things than our digimon's attacks!"

"Yolei…are you…ok? You seem very eager to _kill_ people"

"Patrick is very good at pep talks," TK said

"I hate to agree, but Yolei's right." Tai stood up, and tried to unload the magazine out of his handgun. Seeing he was struggling, TK reached over and hit the magazine release switch. The cartridge fell to the floor, allowing Tai to put in a new one. The others did the same.

"Are you sure? In all our 'adventures' we've destroyed a lot of digimon. We've never had to actually kill someone before…you know…in the real world." Sora seemed reluctant to fight.

"Those things are hardly human. We're probably be doing them a favour." Yolei told the others. They all nodded in reply.

Sora reached over and shakily picked up the Desert Eagle. TK grabbed her hand. "No. Patrick told those things have some nasty recoil. I better take it" Sora just stared and then finally nodded, accepting TK's M9.

"Then lets go!" Sora said as the digidestined ran into the battlefield. Before he left, Tai knelt down beside Kari. She was still out cold. "Don't worry," he whispered, "I'm going to get them for you, then we're going home and forgetting this whole thing" Then he stood up and charged after the others.

A few seconds later a shadow descended over Kari's body. "Come with me," it said, "I'll patch you up."

* * *

The digimon were having a tough time. Birdramon had regressed along with Halsemon to rookie form and were now resting along the side. Patamon soon followed as Angemon was sliced from both sides. Now it was only Wargreymon, Gatomon and Warmarinedramon. Wargreymon had sustained a few hits to his arms and legs, but kept on fighting, for Kari. Gatomon was using her agility to dodge all the attacks, and even had scored a few kills. 

Warmarinedramon had changed the function of his M16/M203 from a gun into a baseball bat. He was smashing away when he heard about a large bang go off. He turned behind him to see a ninja thing collapse behind him. When he looked up, he saw Tai in the background with his handgun up. He was smiling. "Good." Thought Warmarinedramon, "He's tougher than I thought"

Tai looked at the kill he had scored when it finally hit home. He had never really noticed it when he nailed someone before hand. Those riflemen seemed to have no personality…no life. These dark ninja things are far livelier. Killing one seemed to hurt himself much more than it hurt it.

Warmarinedramon noticed Tai looking down at his gun. He went over and nudged him slightly. Tai looked up. "Look," Warmarinedramon started, "Your conscience is bound to get in the way a little now and then. Just remember that if you were in his position, wound he give you and mercy? Would he even _hesitate_ to pull the trigger?" Tai sighed. "No" he said. "Good. Now go and give'em hell"

Warmarinedramon looked around him to see that all the digidestined were in the battlefield, even Sora, firing away at ninjas. Emphasis on firing _at_ - her accuracy was terrible! Sora seemed more afraid of her gun than the targets she was shooting. The biomerged digimon sighed and rejoined the fight, making a mental note to give the other digidestined a crash course in firearm handling when this was all over.

It didn't take long before none of the dark figures still stood.

The digimon surveyed the gym. It was filled with bodies, as well as a coating of dust from the large hole in the wall Blackwargreymon had caused.

"Hell yeah!" shouted Warmarinedramon.

Just then there was a shout for the back of the room. Warmarinedramon flipped his rifle up in the air, caught it against his shoulder and swung around. Then his eyes went wide. "No" he said

The others looked and were also shocked. The Portal the ninjas had come through was still on, but it wasn't that which bothered the digidestined. Standing in front of the white disk was the leader of the riflemen. Over his shoulder he was holding Kari's limp body, and in the other was what looked like a CD-ROM.

He held up the disk, "This is the co-ordinates targeting program for the portal. Without it, you can't restart the machine. Don't worry; I'll take good care of Kari here…" with that he started to reverse into the disk.

"OH NO YA DON'T!" Warmarinedramon raised his rifle, only to be stopped by Tai

"Stop! You might hit Kari!"

"Are you questioning my accuracy?" Warmarinedramon sounded offended

"Don't try!"

"Watch me!"

Warmarinedramon flipped the rifle into single shot and took aim.

"Bingo!" He jammed down the trigger

CLICK! Warmarinedramon looked down his rifle, "WHAT!"

CLICK!

CLICK!

CLICK!

Just then the leader jumped through the portal. There were jolts of lightning across its surface as it quickly disappeared.

Then silence.

"AAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHH!" Warmarinedramon burst out, "OF ALL THE TIMES AND PLACES FOR A JAM!"

He dropped his rifle with a clatter. "You overcomplicated piece of shit!" He kicked it so hard across the room that it snapped in two when it hit the wall.

Usually, Tai would try to calm someone like this down, but he didn't this time. Warmarinedramon had good reason to be angry. Also, he was afraid of ending up like that M16…

Tai was angry with himself as well. He shouldn't have left Kari alone! It was all Yolei's fault. If she hadn't suggested we leave her to fight the ninjas, we would be safe. Mind you, he doubted whether or not the digimon would of survived if they hadn't of helped. Seemed it was inevitable one of them would be captured.

It took a few seconds, but he finally calmed down. He looked down and closed his eyes. In a sudden flash of light Warmarinedramon split back into Patrick and Blackagumon.

Patrick turned to the others. "Sorry about that. My crest gets the better of me sometimes…"

"What is you crest?" Yolei asked

Patrick reached into his shirt and took out a familiar tag, like the ones Tai, Sora and TK had about four years ago…

He held it up to the others. The crest looked like a zig-zag line between two parallel lines. "Mine is the Crest of Rage. Every time I get angry I can biomerge with Blackwargreymon"

"You've done that before?" TK asked

"Yeah, once."

"When?"

"Tell youse later, it's a _long_ story. Now come on we've got to get your girl…"

"Errrr…Patrick. Aren't you forgetting something?"

Patrick stopped, "Oh yeah, that CD thi…"

Patrick was stopped in his tracks, as there was a short burst of light near the platform.

He turned to see a sight he did not expect. The others stood in amazement as well.

There, standing by one of the consoles was a Warmarinedramon.


	8. Suit up and Arm up

Chapter 6 – Suit up and Arm up

Patrick just starred at digimon in front of him.

"But…your…me?" he stuttered

The digimon walked over to Patrick. It was defiantly a Warmarinedramon, but it looked different. It had a large rifle in a back holster that Patrick had never seen before. Also, he had far more armour on the legs and arms.

"I'm sorta in a hurry, but what I can tell you is this," he looked around him at the also startled digidestined, "I'm from the future. Well, sort of. I'm actually about a day older than you, but I'm coming from a time period four years in the future"

Patrick thought to himself, and then it hit him, "The portal…"

The Warmarinedramon shoved something into his hand. It was a CD case. "That's the disk wha-dya-call took. Use it to get to the future, then pass it on when you're done"

"Why don't you come with us?" Tai asked, "You'd already know what was going to happen!"

"Can't"

"Why not?"

"Because that would cause…"

"A time paradox" Patrick finished

Warmarinedramon smiled, "Yep. You got it!"

"Well can you at least tell us what's going on?" Sora asked

"Nope. Cody'll fill youse in on the future. I'm just here to give you that disk"

He then revealed a large watch on his right arm, pressed a button, and disappeared as quickly as he appeared.

The occupants of the demolished gym were paralysed with confusion. Patrick slowly looked down at the disk in his hand. A broad smile creped across his face.

"Well guys," he turned to the others, "Are youse ready for an adventure?"

They all nodded. "Yeah! Let's get Kari back!" Salamon shouted optimistically.

They all started to walk towards the portal when Patrick stopped them. "Wait. We don't know what's in there. I try to _always_ be prepared for _anything_"

"Yeah, that's why he sleeps with a G36K under his pillow" Blackagumon whispered to the others.

"I heard that, jackass! Now come on, time to suit up and arm up"

* * *

"Wow...is this an armoury or what?" Tai stood in front of the large table dominating the computer room. Patrick immediately went over to a console and logged on. While it was logging on, he dived under the table and produced a large pile of rucksacks. 

"Where did you get all this?" Sora asked.

Patrick smiled "Do ya want short version or the long, detailed version?"

"Pick the short version" Yolei whispered

"Errrr…short version"

"Dammit, I was afraid you'd say that" Patrick put one in front of each of them, except Sora. "Some friends of mine" he said simply.

"Who" she asked as Patrick handed her a rucksack.

TK nudged her, "Really, you don't want to know"

Patrick sat back at his console, "Ok, here's the plan. Sora, the lunch hall is in the west wing, try and get food that will last a while."

"On it" she said as she ran out of the room. "Oh yeah, and bring marshmallows. Lots of marshmallows" he shouted after her, then turned to the others.

"Yolei, see those radios over there," he pointed to a bunch of headsets beside a console, "Program them all to the same channel as mine, yours and TK's"

"Sure" she sat down at the console and got to work

"Tai, there are some medical supplies down near the gym. Take your rucksack and get _all_ of it"

"Anything in particular?"

"Hey, I ain't a doctor, I don't know anything about medicine. Though bring as many bandages as you can."

"You love giving out orders don't you? Feels weird, usually I'm the one giving the commands"

"Just remember I'm the one with USAS" he turned back to his console.

"What's that?"

"An automatic shotgun," Blackagumon answered, "Trust me, you don't want to get on the wrong side of it, unless you plan on having a career as mince meat"

"Ok…I'll take your word for it" He left in the direction of the gym

Patrick turned to TK, "Right, since you're the only one I can trust with a firearm, heres your job"

"Trust? Hey, I learnt everything from you"

"No, I taught you and Yolei the basics in a three minute crash course. Which is three minutes more than the others. Trust me, it would take days to learn _everything_"

"Anyway," he turned back to the table in the middle, "I want you to prepare four USPs with about three magazines each. By the way, and I'll be having my Deagle back now" He brought his hand up

"Oh, sorry, here" He passed Patrick's Desert Eagle to him.

"Thanks. Then I want you to go get a few M4's from the riflemen in the gym. They use the same calibre ammo as the M16s, but you should be able to find a near limitless supply from around the school."

"Ok, so I'm guessing the handguns and the M4s are for each of us, but what about you?"

"I'm taking that G3A3 as my main weapon, but I'll keep the SAW and the PSG-1 in my bag just in case."

Patrick turned back to his console and took out a PDA from his pocket. He plugged it into the computer and started typing.

* * *

**Half an hour later**

Patrick hit the 'Synchronize' button, triggering a 'Do not disconnect' screen on the PDA. He turned to the centre table. Yolei had finished programming the radios pretty quickly and was now helping TK scavenge as many 5.52mm rounds as possible. Tai returned from the gym about five minutes ago with a bag full of medical supplies, then promptly left to find Sora, who was still at the kitchens. All the digimon were exploring around the school.

"Right," He stood up and took some Flak Jackets from the table and threw two at TK and Yolei, "Put these on"

They hesitated slightly, but then just shrugged and put them on. TK's looked fine on him but Yolei's was far too big. He was about to suggest trying another when Tai and Sora arrived.

"Finally!" Patrick said, "Where have you two love-birds been?"

"Excuse me?" Tai asked

Patrick smiled, "Never mind. Have you got the grub?"

"Yep," Sora dumped the packed rucksack on the table.

"Marshmallows?"

"What is so urgent about these marshmallows?" She asked angrily

"Yeah, that's what took us so long – finding the damn marshmallows!" Tai added

"We're gonna be doing quite a bit of camping, and camping ain't complete without marshmallows!"

"Patrick's addicted to marshmallows," Blackagumon added in, as he came though the door with the other digimon.

"I got that idea," said TK as he wrestled with a jammed M4.

"Here gimme that" Patrick grabbed the carbine off TK and hit it hard on the table, "There, try that"

He handed it back to TK who immediately was able to eject the cartridge, "Cool" he muttered, and then set the rifle down.

"Ok everyone, listen up," Patrick patted the pile of Flak Jackets, "Find a Jacket that **fits you**." The last two words were directed at Yolei, who immediately removed her jacket.

"Then take an handgun and some magazines that TK has left out. Put them all in the designated holsters in the jacket.

Everyone did so, and so everyone was ready, once Patrick had showed Sora which way the handgun goes in the holster.

"Ok, Tai, you take the food, since you seemed so eager to help Sora with it"

Tai grunted something, then put the heavy rucksack on.

"Sora, you take the ones with the medical supplies. I'll take the one with the SAW and the PSG-1 while TK takes the excess rifles and ammo. Yolei, take one with…well…everything else."

Everyone nodded in agreement. "What else...errrr…" Patrick turned to Yolei, "Radios?" he asked

"Oh yeah" she scrambled over to the bunch of headsets she had been working on and gave one to Tai and Sora, then showed them how to use it.

"Right, final thing" he nodded to TK, "Rifles?"

TK handed a carbine to everyone, except Patrick, who was already readying a G3A3 AR. He showed them how to clip it to the side of their rucksacks for quick removal. Patrick then gave one of his three-minute crash courses that he had noted to himself to do.

When everyone was ready, Patrick picked up his PDA and the disk his future self had given him. Then they headed down to the gym.

* * *

The digidestined and their digimon assembled in front of the large, silent portal. Patrick went over to the consoles and inserted the disk.

Nothing

Patrick looked at the console. Nothing happened "Errr…what now?" he asked the others.

They all shrugged, "Wait I guess…" Just then a small green light appeared beside the disk drive. Patrick looked back at the others; "Worth a shot" He pressed it.

Suddenly the consoles whirred to life as loads of other lights switched on. Patrick didn't need to press anymore as the familiar crack of electricity signalled that the portal was opening.

The others watched as the large white disk expanded to its usual size. Patrick came over to them. "Ok, is everyone sure on what to do?"

Sora nodded, "Secure a perimeter with our digimon as quietly as possible and wait for further orders"

"You learn fast. **Now in ya go**"

Tai and Sora approached the portal, and then stopped. They looked at each other, only about half a metre from the white beyond.

"You first" said Sora

"Ladies first" Tai replied

"Oh for…grrrrrr" Patrick stared growling. He walked up to the two and pushed them both the short distance into the portal.

He turned to the digimon, "Fetch"

The digimon nervously walked up to the portal. One by one they jumped through. Patrick finally turned to TK.

"Right on it" TK said and ran towards the disk.

"WAIT!" Patrick stopped him. TK looked at him, "What?"

Patrick walked over to the broken M16 lying on the ground and carefully removed the M203 grenade launcher. He chucked it over to TK. "Put that on"

TK looked confused. "Why not you?"

Patrick held up his rifle"G3A3s don't support launchers. M4s can, and as I said before, I can trust you"

He placed a few HE grenades into his pocket as TK clipped the M203 onto his carbine.

TK nodded. "Thanks" he said.

"No prob, **NOW GET YOUR ASS THROUGH THERE**!"

TK quickly ran and jumped into the white disk.

Now Patrick was alone. He sighed and scanned his rifle across the broken gym. Daylight was just breaking outside. Patrick just remembered that he hadn't got any sleep tonight. In fact, he hadn't slept since Sunday night, though he still felt perky enough to fight on.

He looked out the window at the sunrise. "Hope your ok Emma, wherever you are" With that, he ran into the portal.

Just after he disappeared, the portal started to close, and eventually disappeared, soon followed by the consoles powering down.

And once again, for the first time in days, the school was silent.


	9. The Prisoner

Chapter 7 – The Prisoner

"Throw her in with the little boy…"

"As you wish…"

Kari landed on the hard floor. She was completely disorientated. She had no idea where she was or what was happening. Everything was a blur. Voices either slurred together or trailed off in mid sentence. The main thing she was aware of was the small throbbing pain in her shoulder when she tried to move it. It wasn't much, but it was there.

There was what sounded like a door closing behind her and the lock sliding into place.

She felt drowsy, and in no time at all, she was asleep.

* * *

Patrick felt himself propelled forward out of the perpetual light and onto his destination. He looked around…well…tried. Wherever he was it was pitch dark. It was a sharp contrast to the bright light from the teleportation. 

"Where are we?" he heard Sora's voice ask

"No idea" came Tai's reply

"Ok, nobody panic," Patrick thought for a second. "Yolei?" He asked

"Patrick? Where are you?" he heard Yolei answer

"Over here"

"Where is here?"

Patrick sighed, "Come to the sound of my voice"

Patrick heard movement, then a large 'Watch it!' as Yolei bumped into Tai.

"Sorry" she said to the darkness, and then moved on blindly.

Patrick felt someone bump into him. "There you are" he said

"What do you want?"

"Remember the random, useless junk I dumped in your rucksack?"

"Yeah"

"Something's about to find a use, now where's your pack…" Patrick moved his arm up but met some resistance.

"OW! You just hit me in the face!"

"Oppps, sorry, now turn around so I can get into your pack"

Patrick felt the bulk that was Yolei's rucksack and opened it the best he could in the darkness. He fumbled inside until he found what he was looking for.

"There!" He yanked something free and took a step back, and in the process standing on Sora's foot.

"Ouch! Who did that?" she demanded

"Errrr...I can tell you one thing, it wasn't me" Patrick lied, and then squatted down. He heard a small growl from Sora's direction, then the others heard him hitting something hard on the floor, which suddenly exploded in a bright light.

TK winced in the light, "What the hell is that?"

"A flare" Patrick answer, and started looking around in the new light.

The group took a few seconds to get used to the new light, and then started looking around.

"Ok, _now_ do you have any idea where we are?" Sora asked, sounding irritated.

The group seemed to be standing in a small, concrete room. It was completely bare except for a computer console sitting at one end, and a small blast-door beside it. There seemed to be no evidence of lights.

"I think whoever sent us here wants us to use this console" TK said

"Wonder what gives you that idea?" Patrick answered sarcastically

He walked over to the door and tried to open it.

Locked

He tried pushing it and even shoulder charging, but to no avail.

The group walked over to the lone console. It seemed switched off, but just as Yolei touched the keyboard it shone to life. The screen automatically loaded up with the digiport.

"Right then, to the digital world!" Tai said, taking out his digivice. The others did the same.

"Digiport open!"

* * *

Kari had a dream...no...wait...a nightmare. 

She was in that school, no wait, the gym. Sora was beside her. They were talking to that man with the gun. Then something happened. Someone came up behind Sora and tried to shoot her, but the man saved her. It was then that two deafening bangs went off, followed by an extreme pain in her shoulder. Then she woke up.

* * *

The group landed in a large forest. Patrick looked around. "Secure a perimeter, gogogo!" 

Everyone took their digimon and headed into the bushes. Patrick stayed in the small clearing by the TV set. Blackagumon was at his side.

"Everything going ok?" the digimon asked

"Almost too well, why?"

"I was talking to the digimon while youse were getting ready. Kept them busy, like you said," he smiled, "They have no idea about biomerging. They have a version called DNA digivolving."

Patrick thought for a second, "Strange…"

"What about the trust issue?"

Patrick looked around cautiously to see if they were being watched.

"That's what I'm worried about. They're too trustful," he whispered, "Now this might be deliberate, of course, but I don't think so. It's obviously their biggest weakness"

"I'll try to keep them occupied a bit longer, to make sure they don't get sus..."

He stopped when there was rustling in the bushes. TK and the others emerged, along with the digimon.

"Anything?" Patrick asked

"Nope. Not a thing. We set up the sensors along the perimeter, like you said" TK looked at the teenager standing in front of him, as his clothes had changed since they entered the digital world.

The tattered and torn uniform had been replaced with camo-combat fatigues with Kevlar plating, in addition to large hiking boots. The others noticed this change as well.

"Great work. Ok now," he looked at Sora, Biyomon, Yolei and Hawkmon, "Digivolve to Champion and do some surveillance"

"Biyomon digivolve to Birdramon"

"Hawkmon digivolve to Aquilamon"

Patrick looked up at the two huge birds, "Please try to not be seen. If you are, lead them _away_ from us"

The two girls nodded as they mounted their digimon. "No prob" said Yolei, dumping her rucksack along with Sora's.

Once the digimon had cleared the trees and flown off, Patrick looked at the others.

"How did you know they were large birds at champion level?" Tai asked suspiciously

"Experience. I've been a digidestined far longer than you have. All bird digimon are larger birds at champion level, then they generally turn humanoid-bird at ultimate"

Tai looked at Patrick, "You were one of the first digidestined?"

"Yeah. All digidestined are selected generally pre-teen. You might not have noticed, but I'm seventeen. I got my digivice almost seven years ago"

"What was it like?"

Patrick looked at the ground. "That's a sensitive topic," Blackagumon told Tai.

"What do you mean?"

Blackagumon opened his mouth to respond, but Patrick exploded first.

"WE WERE DEFEATED, OK!" He yelled, "WE COULDN'T DEFEAT APOCALYMON!" His crest had started to glow an erie grey colour.

Patrick took a deep breath and turned away from Tai, there was clear emotion in his voice, "They were all killed, every one of them. Except me and…"

He stopped and thought carefully, "…nobody. I'm a survivor of one of the greatest disasters in the digiworld."

Tai was about to ask what did he mean by 'and…nobody', but Blackagumon stopped him, "Don't go there. You'll regret it later."

"I think I have the right to know"

"Ok, but don't say I didn't warn you"

Tai turned back to Patrick, "Now come on, we beat Apocalymon. Where do you go wrong? Were you not strong enough..."

Blackagumon winced and waved slightly to Tai, "Nighty night"

Patrick swung around and punched Tai right across the face. Tai fell backwards, holding his face.

He raised his hand for a second strike, but TK grabbed his arm, "Come on guys we're all friends here". TK started having bad memories of four years ago, when Tai and Matt would fight all the time. Except this version of Matt was towering over Tai and was far stronger.

Patrick's crest started to diminish as he calmed down.

TK let go of Patrick's arm, "Sorry, Tai can be a bit…impulsive, sometimes"

Patrick sighed, "Thanks, but it's ok, I needed to blow off some steam anyway."

Tai slowly sat up and was met by Blackagumon, "Can't say I didn't warn you"

He turned to the two and went back into military mode, "By the time the girls come back I want a camp set up."

"What like?" Tai asked

"Get some wood, start a fire, I'll take care of the rest"

Patrick walked off into the bushes, leaving Blackagumon behind.

TK turned to Tai, "Your bleeding"

"I know. It's not broken though"

"At least you learn't _not_ to get Paddy angry" Blackagumon said

Tai wiped the blood off his nose, "Amen to that. Now lets get this camp set up"

* * *

**Ten minutes later**

Sora and Yolei jumped off their digimon and looked at the fire the boys had set up.

Tai looked over his shoulder and got up. He opened his mouth to ask them how it went when Patrick finally reappeared. Under his arms he held a few largish looking bags. He dumped them near the fire when he saw the digimon.

"What's in them?" TK asked

"Tents. Now what's the situation ladies?"

Yolei turned to Patrick, "Well, we think we found their base…"

* * *

Kari woke up when she felt a stabbing pain in her shoulder. 

"Ouch, ahh," she looked around in confusion, "Where am I?"

"A cell" an answer came. Kari saw a boy get off a bed and walk over to her. "Drugs worn off yet?"

Kari just looked at the boy. "The last thing I remember is, well, being attacked. In that school, then I blacked out. Everything after that is a blur"

The boy sighed, "God, they must have gave you one hell of a dose of morphine". He couldn't have been any older than Kari.

He stood up and walked over to a barred window, "Your in a containment facility. We were all taken from our schools and brought here"

He shivered slightly, "The stuff they do here is inhuman. Everyday is just endless interrogations, experiments and working. Won't be long now before it's my round again"

He looked down at the girl on the floor, "For some reason, they're going easy on you. I don't know if it's because your new or something"

"Maybe girls get an easier time"

The boy turned to Kari, "Defiantly not. I know this one girl a few cells away that they gave up interrogating a while ago. Now she's just tortured day in, day out. Poor lass, she'll be dead in a matter of days if this keeps up"

Kari looked shocked, "…dead? They kill people?"

"Without hesitation. There was this one time a kid broke free of his guards. Tried to escape on an outbound transport plane. Never made it that far. As soon as he left the containment complex he was caught by one of those riflemen. Shot on the spot"

Kari started shaking with fear, "How…many are…there left...of us?"

"Only a few, including you and me. Not sure how many digimon are left…"

Kari almost jumped up, but was stopped by her shoulder, "Digimon?"

"Of course. If you haven't noticed, this is the digital world. Another thing you might want to know is that it's in the future"

Kari started to look almost happy, "But I'm a digidestined, I could help you out!"

The boy just started laughing at Kari. "What's so funny" she demanded.

"Look, we're _all_ digidestined here. Every one of us."

* * *

"Yep, I'd say your right" Patrick lowered his field binoculars as he stared at the large building in the distance. 

About ten kilometres away, on top of a large hill was a huge castle. The digidestined had a view of a drawbridge letting vehicles across a long stone pier, which disappeared out of view.

They were on top of Birdramon, as Aquilamon and Yolei went for another closer look

"All you need is the lightning in the background and it would be your typical cliché dark-evil-castle-on-top-of-a-mountain."

"It's also got a lake around it. You can't see it from here because of the trees, but it's there" Sora told them.

Patrick took another look through the scope, "Hmmm…SAM sites up top, heavy looking emplacements. Drawbridge looks like the only way in..."

Just then, Aquilamon returned with Yolei.

"You're not gonna believe this, but there's a hanger actually _inside_ the mountain it's on. At the foot of the mountain is a dock, and there also seems to be a way for the lake to pass out to the ocean," Yolei reported.

Patrick thought for a second, "Good eye. Either one of them would be bad on their own. It's the _combination_ that's worrying."

"Why? Air support?" TK asked

"No, the hanger's linked to the navy some way. I think it's for dispatching new aircraft"

"To where?"

"Where do ya think?" Patrick smiled slightly, "Carriers"

TK shivered, "Hope none of them arrive"

"Ok then. We attack tomorrow," Patrick announced

"What! How?" asked Tai.

"I'll work on the details tonight. As for now, get some rest. Your gonna need it."

* * *

"…and then I was brought here" The boy had just finished explaining how he had ended up in this facility, "Whatever happened to you got you shot. Twice by the looks of things." 

Kari started having a flashback of the gym where she was hit. She shivered at the memory.

The boy quickly snapped his head up, "Hear that. Footsteps"

"They're coming?"

The boy looked at his watch, "Damn. My turn. Well, it was nice knowing you…errr"

"Kari Kamiya"

The boy smiled and shook her hand, "I'm Declan O'Reilly"


	10. Digital Rooms

_Not much action in this chapter or the next, just **a lot** of talking_

_None of the techno jargon Patrick is talking about is true - It's just big random words put together to make himself sound smart_

_Patrick: I still have my USAS and my trigger finger is itchy_

_Really, they are aren't they?_

_Patrick: Whatever. Gimme something to kill already!  
_

_We'll get there - so calm down you maniac. This had to be done sometime - it was inevitable  
_

_Patrick: A maniac? Just wait until I tell everyone what you've got planned for later chapters...then we'll see who's the maniac!  
_

_Errr...and now on with the story! _

Chapter 8 – Digital Rooms

Patrick continued to type on the laptop. The others didn't know where it came from, and when they heard about Tai's incident, they didn't care.

The others set up their tents around the fire then came and sat beside it. They talked for a while about the other digidestined that hadn't come with them. TK seemed to talk a lot about his brother.

"You know, you remind me a lot of Izzy" Tai said

Patrick didn't even look up "Why's that?"

"You get glued to those computers"

"Computers are my life. I couldn't live without them. Heck, we wouldn't be here without them" he stopped typing only for a few minutes to roast a few marshmallows on the fire.

Sora looked up at the night sky. "So you were one of the first digidestined"

"Yep"

"How come you have a D3 then?"

Patrick unhooked his digivice and looked at it, "You know, I'm not sure," he thought for a second, "In fact, now that I think about it, this changed exactly one week before I met youse"

"Maybe they all have some link to other digidestined," Tai said

"Perhaps…" Patrick stuffed the marshmallows into his mouth then went back to the black laptop.

"So let me get this straight," he looked at Tai, "You were the second generation of digidestined, seven years after mine, and you," he looked at Yolei, "are the third and current generation, four years after the second and therefore eleven after mine"

She nodded, "Correct"

"The second gen had crests like mine, and but different digivices"

"Why, what were yours like?"

"More or less the same as yours except slightly larger"

He ate another marshmallow and started typing again.

"We did have crests, but lost them four years ago defending the digital world" Sora said

They explained about how they got their crests, which seemed to trail off into their entire adventure in the digital world. Then Yolei explained about the digieggs and armour digivolving.

"Really…" Patrick never stopped typing.

"What are you doing?" Tai asked

"Youse wouldn't understand. It's complicated"

"Shoot"

"Ok then. I'm writing a program that will recalibrate the main digital matrix code primary to the everyday function of the digiworld itself"

The others just stared at Patrick with the look they usually give Izzy when he goes into techno-jargon-mode.

"Warned you," said Patrick, reading their expressions.

"Is that what you do in your spare time? Sit on the computer?" Sora asked

"More or less. Either I'm surfing the net, writing programs, playing the Xbox, messing about outside"

"Play soccer much?" asked Tai

"Nope. Hate the sport. Hate all sports"

"No offence, but wouldn't that make you the type of person who sits around all day on computers and is therefore generally unfit?"

"I train a lot though. Mainly in the digital world"

"Or in DRs" Blackagumon added

"DRs?" Yolei asked

"Yeah, I was just getting to that, they're 'Digital Rooms'. It's like virtual reality, except based in the digital world" Patrick said, still typing.

"How do they work?" she asked curiously

"Simple really. By running a separate reality program alongside the main digital world we all know and love. Because I have full access to the entire 'world' or 'room', I can change absolutely _any_ aspect of the environment or physics"

"Wow…" Yolei seemed amazed, whereas the other three were lost after the first few words.

"Ever seen The Matrix?"

"Yeah"

"It's sorta like those training programs they did in the first movie"

"Decky calls it the best computer game _ever._ Also, because you have access to every part of the 'world' you can really play God. You can make it so you can't die, can't feel pain, anything" Blackagumon said

"Hang on a second, if you were to input a separate program into the main server you would have to bypass the toughest firewall ever created! To get in you'd have to…be…" Yolei thought for a second and then looked at Patrick sternly, "Are you a Hacker?"

Patrick started laughing to himself, and then smiled at Yolei "You got it!"

"But isn't hacking illegal?"

"Not in the digital world"

"Why not?"

"Because nobody's ever done it before"

A few minutes passed. The group talked about other things they did, until Patrick hit a final key on his laptop and declared, "Done!"

"Done what?" TK asked

"I'll show you" He turned his laptop so it faced everyone. It showed a digiport screen, but it was slightly different. A few parts were missing, replaced with programming code.

Patrick picked up his D3 and motioned for the others to do the same. The digimon approached too, but Patrick stopped Blackagumon.

"No. You stay here in case anyone comes"

He nodded and held his ground.

"Ok," He pointed his digivice at the screen and said, "Program excecute"

Suddenly everywhere went white. Everyone except Patrick looked around.

"Where are we?" Biyomon asked nervously

Patrick put his arms up, "Welcome to a DR."

He took his PDA out of his pocket and tapped it. Immediately, the whiteness on the 'floor' was replaced with a large overview of the digital world. Though it looked different than the digital world back home. Most of the world was covered in desert, and had the noticeable feature of a _huge _crater near the centre of the desert.

The group looked at the plan in amazement. Patrick clicked the PDA a few more times, causing the map to zoom in on a specific area each time. Soon the image showed what was easily recognisable as the large castle they had seen earlier.

It was surrounded by a massive lake, which went of the off into what looked like an ocean. Around this was a dense forest. Outside this was the huge, barren desert. In this desert, other installations could be seen.

"This is _amazing_" Yolei said

"Trust me, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Now as you can see for this, our camp is here"

One more tap caused an arrow to appear over a small clearing, southeast of the fortress.

He clicked the device once more and the flat image on the ground started to rise into full 3D, scaled down so the structure was only about a metre high. Patrick walked over to this building.

"I got these images by processing the geographical code of the digiworld. Unfortunately, I can't get any plans of the castle because it isn't actually part of the digital world. Anyway, my best guess is that Kari is inside. We'll need a lot of firepower to get in, but leave that part to me."

"If we can get some sort of distraction, and managed to lure some troops outside, some of us could get inside. From there, I can download the building's schematics, and then we find your girl."

"What about your brother?" Tai asked

Patrick stopped cold. "What about him"

"Did it ever occur to you that he might be here?"

Patrick thought to himself, "Not…really. But you got a good point. We'll just have to see how our plan goes"

"What is the plan?" TK asked

"Ok then," he nodded and tapped the PDA, "Here's the details…"

* * *

"Declan O'Reilly," Kari thought to herself, "Where have I heard that name before?" 

Five minutes ago a guard dressed in combat fatigues came into the cell and dragged Declan off. He locked the door behind them.

Kari tried to remember, but couldn't concentrate. The effects of the morphine they had used had not completely wore off.

She looked around the cell. It was completely bare except for the door with a small window in it, two raised mattresses creating makeshift beds and a barred opening looking outside.

She looked out the window. It was getting dark. Hopefully Declan would be back soon so she wouldn't be lonely anymore. She needed someone to talk to.

Kari instinctively reached down for her D-Terminal, but it wasn't there. Neither was her digivice or her camera.

"Of course," the girl said to herself, "Declan told me they took everything off us"

She sighed, and lay down on the single bed, "I wouldn't even mind talking to Davis right now…hey, now that's desperate!"

Within five minutes Kari was asleep.

* * *

"…and then get the hell outta here!" Patrick looked proudly at the plan in front of him, "What'd ya think?" 

"Nice one. We'll do it tomorrow then" Tai looked hopeful

"I'll go with that," Patamon smiled

"Sure thing" TK said

"What they said," Yolei added

"Ok," Patrick put his PDA back and took out his digivice, "Program terminate"

"Suddenly, the group was back in the makeshift camp with Blackagumon.

Patrick stopped when he heard a rustle in a bush. He snapped up, taking his Deagle out and aiming it at the bush, "Who's there?"

"Calm down, it's just me" A man walked out of the bush. He was dressed in black fatigues and had an MP5 on a strap around his shoulder.

The others stopped cold and looked at the man. The digimon started growling, ready to fight on their partner's command.

"Who are you?" Tai demanded, Patrick still pointing his handgun at his head.

"What, don't you recognise your old friend Cody…"


	11. Fireside Revelations

_More techno jargon – except it's actually the truth this time  
_

_We're one step closer to chapter 10!_

_Nearly there! _

Chapter 9 – Fireside Revelations

"Cody?" Yolei stared at the man, who looked in his mid-twenties, "Is that you?"

Cody smiled, "Yep. And am I glad to see you lot!"

"Aren't you the least bit surprised to see us? We're from the past for God's sake!" Patrick said suspiciously

"Errrr…not really. This sort of thing happens all the time. The dark master has perfected time travel technology so…"

"Dark master?" Tai asked

"…yeah. He's the guy who took over the digital world. _Really_ powerful guy. But he's not here at the moment. He left his right-hand man in charge while he went out on a mission of some sort…"

"How do you know all this?"

Yolei came up to Patrick, "Calm down, we can trust Cody"

"Thanks Yolei, I knew I could count on you to bail me out" He started to move towards the camp, but Patrick clicked the safety off his Deagle, to remind him it was still there, "I didn't say you could move. If this 'Dark Master' is as powerful as you say, you could be on his side for all we know"

"Patrick, stop it" Yolei grabbed his arm

"How do you know he even is Cody?"

"I just know, ok?" He looked at Patrick in the eyes pleadingly, "Please?"

Patrick growled, put the safety back on and placed it in his holster; "Fine, just don't come crying to me when he turns out to be a spy" He turned around and sat down beside the fire. It wasn't long before the marshmallows came back out.

"So your gonna attack his that base then" he nodded, "Hope your prepared. I'm part of a resistance group trying to break the Dark Master's rule"

"Who is this Dark Master anyway?" TK asked

"You know what, I think it would be better if I told you the whole story"

"We're listening" Patrick said with a mouthful of marshmallows

"Well, it all started five years after we defeated Malomyotismon, Izzy detected a strange reading in the Digital World. Joe, Matt and you, Sora, went to investigate. And what you three found changed the digital world forever"

"What was it?"

Cody looked up at the sky, "A two Megaton Thermonuclear bomb"

Patrick spat out a mouthful of marshmallow, "What!"

"We believe it…was on a proximity trigger. When you went to see what it was…it detonated"

"That's why this future digital world is just one large desert" Patrick said shocked, "A Nuclear explosion of that size would have _catastrophic_ consequences in the digital world"

"I'd expect a lot of damage from an atomic bomb, but what's so bad about it in the digital world?" TK asked

"The EMP" Cody said simply

Yolei gasped, "You're right! An EMP in the digital world would practically destroy it!"

"Wait, you've gone into geek mode again. What are you talking about?" Tai said putting his hand up

"An EMP," Patrick explained, "Or an Electromagnetic Pulse is one of the many things generated from a nuclear explosion. In the real world, this EMP would short all electrical equipment. All radios, televisions, anything with circuitry. Computers are the worst hit. They are usually corrupt beyond repair. I can only begin to imagine what an EMP would do in a _digital environment_ like the digiworld."

"In other words…"

"EMP is digital radiation. Bad for digiworld" Yolei translated

"And anything digital. Digimon are immediately deleted in the face of an EMP. That's why the Dark Master uses EM warheads." Cody finished

"Yeah. Wait, please tell me didn't say EM warheads"

"Ok, but that would be a lie"

Patrick fell backwards on the ground, "Shiiiit. That's half our plan ruined"

"Can't you people talk normally? Why? What's an EM warhead?" Sora asked clearly irritated

"Just a conventional High-Explosive warhead that has been modified to give off a small EMP" he started growling again, "Crap! If our digimon got a hit from one of those missiles, they'd be deleted"

"Well then, may I make a plan suggestion?" Cody asked politely, as always.

"Shoot"

"The only EM warheads on defence are the Patriot and Stinger sites up top. I recommend entering from the dock at the foot of the mountain. It's lightly defended"

"Yeah, then we go on with the original plan" Patrick said, "I like it. We'll do that then"

"Ok, well, I'd best be going. HQ is probably wondering where I got to. Good luck defeating the Dark Master…"

"Excuse me, but we have no business with the Dark Master. This is a simple save and extract mission. He's _your_ problem"

"Oh, so your saving the prisoners and avoiding the Dark Master's next in command. Good luck with that"

"Wait, prisoner**s**," Patrick asked

Cody looked confused, "Yeah, that fortress serves as the main prison complex for the Digital World. Didn't you know that?"

Tai shook his head, "No, we're just here to grab Kari and run. Fast."

"Kari? She was taken prisoner?" Cody looked slightly shocked, "Then you'd better get in there quick, I doubt Kari would last too long"

"Why?"

"You don't want to know. Just get Kari out _quickly_"

He stood up and lifted his MP5, "Well, see you all in the morning" He walked off into the bushes.

Patrick stood back up and stretched, "I don't know about youse, but I'm getting some sleep. I haaving slept in…one…two…" He starting counting off the days, "…yeah, five days. That's about 120 hours non-stop. Beat that!"

"Yeah, we'd better be getting to bed too. We'll need to be on top form for tomorrow." TK said to the others.

"How's the food supply going Sora?" Patrick asked

Sora looked into her rucksack and started rummaging, "Not too bad. Will eggs do for breakfast?"

"Yeah. Hold on, how did you get eggs here without breaking them?"

"I was careful. _Very_ careful"

"Why don't we get our digimon to search for some food?" Tai asked

"If that Cody guy was telling the truth, and there _was_ a nuclear blast in this world, then I be afraid of any fruits being contaminated. We stick with eggs"

"Right, I'm _so_ looking forward to that" Yolei said sarcastically

Everyone went back to his or her separate tents to find that their digimon were already inside, fast asleep.

Patrick sat down on the sleeping bag. He reached into his rucksack and removed a G36K assault rifle. Making sure it was loaded and had the safety on, he set it beside his pillow.

He looked over at Blackagumon, who was asleep beside him.

"Goodnight" he whispered

Blackagumon opened an eye, "Goodnight"

Patrick jumped slightly, "Your still awake?"

The digimon closed his eye, "I'm a light sleeper, like you, remember?"

Patrick laughed quietly in the silence of the camp, "After all these years, you still surprise me Agu"

He smiled, "Always have – always will. Seeya tomorrow"

"See…YAWN...seeya"

Patrick was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

* * *

Kari was woken by the immense noise of the cell door opening. Kari jumped up when she saw Declan thrown in. They locked the door behind him. 

Declan collapsed on the floor, clutching his arm and gritting his teeth in pain.

Kari went over to him, "Are you Ok?"

"Those bastards… they broke...my arm!"

"How?"

"You _really_ don't want to know"

"Can you stand?"

"Yeah…I'll make it"

Kari helped him too his feet, allowing her to get a look at the extent of the damage.

"Is your elbow…supposed to go back that far?"

"Not naturally, now please don't watch if you know what's good for you"

Kari got the idea and closed her eyes. There was a short 'crack' and then a scream of pain as Declan snapped his arm back into place.

She opened her eyes and looked at the Declan, "You're the bravest person I've ever met, you know that?"

"Thanks, but a load of morphine would be much appreciated right now"

Kari smiled as the boy sat on one of the beds, "You better get some sleep tonight, I think your next"

"Thanks, I can't wait"

The two silently went to bed and were asleep in no time.


	12. First Strike

_Finally! Action!_

_Pat: Shooting time!_

_Lot of scene changes in this, so it might be a bit harder to read_

_Sorry for any inconvenience..._

_...Not_

Chapter 10 – First Strike

"Breach! Airfield!" The words that came over the radio echoed through Patrick's mind. 

M16 in hand he jumped down the stairs towards the southern part of the base. When he got to the runway, he was greeted by an Abrams main battle tank charging through the airfield. It aimed its 105mm cannon at Patrick.

"Oh shit!"

BOOM!

Patrick closed his eyes.

Nothing

Had it missed? He opened his eyes to see that he wasn't at the base anymore. He was beside a familiar looking lake...

"No…not here…"

Just then, there was a huge eruption in the lake. A large serpent emerged.

"Metalseadramon? But…I…defeated you!"

"Defeated me? You might of beaten me but _I_ was the victor overall!"

Patrick poised himself, ready to attack, when he noticed something…wrong. He looked down on his body and squeeked in horror. He was a ten again!

"What the hell?"

"What was the last thing I said to you before Wargreymon finished me all those years ago?"

Patrick tried to think, but he was shivering in terror, "I…I…can't remember!"

"THAT'S A LIE! YOU REMEMBER IT LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY!" The digimon shouted

"You…said…'I will follow you for the rest of your life…until you defeat yourself'…but what did that mean?"

"That would defeat the purpose of why I'm here. _To remind you of your past_" The digimon started laughing manically, and then suddenly exploded.

Patrick was flung backwards and landed hard on the ground, and then everything went black for a minute, but wished he would stay that way.

When he slowly regained consciousness, he was at the camp…well, what was left of it anyway.

The trees around the clearing were burning and there were a few craters in the ground. The five tents were lying flat, also burning away.

"Matt…Patrick…" he heard a hoarse voice. When he looked down he saw Blackagumon lying at his feet, badly wounded.

"Agu! What happened?"

"We tried…got…everyone…Sora…" those were his last words before he dissipated into the air.

"No… Blackagumon…" Patrick felt the rage building up inside of him, but for some reason he didn't get the usual energy boost that he usually did – in fact the opposite happened. He felt weaker.

"Oh Matttthewl"

He snapped his neck up at the newest threat. About five meters away were two men. Patrick immediately recognised them both as…Cody?

But that wasn't what was bothering Patrick, it was who these clones were holding. The right had an arm wrapped around Declan's neck with a Desert Eagle pointed at his head. The other was doing the exact same thing to Sora.

"Patrick!" Declan shouted

Patrick couldn't speak. He felt an emotion he hadn't experienced in years.

Fear

"What's wrong? Patrick, come on!" Sora said

"I…can't" He was to tired

"Make a choice, Matthew!" One of the Codys said

"That's…not…my…name"

"YES IT IS. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE FROM THAT" They both said in unison

"Matthew…died. Long ago. I'm Patrick now" Patrick blurted out, clear hatred in his voice

"It doesn't matter if your names Patrick, Matthew or Kari! Make a choice. Declan or Sora. Whoever you choose goes home. The other dies, right here, right now."

"No…leave Sora out of this…she's got nothing to do with it!"

"I'm afraid she is now. YOU BROUGHT HER AND ALL THE OTHERS INTO IT! LOOK AROUND YOU! THEY'RE _ALL_ DEAD!"

"Patrick…save me!" Sora yelped from Cody's tight grip

"This isn't fair…Declan is my brother…I love him…and Sora is completely innocent…"

"Innocent civilians regularly get caught in the crossfire, but you should know all about that shouldn't you?" The left Cody said

"No…"

"Make a choice or we'll make on for you"

"I'll…kill…youse" Patrick felt like unloading a clip into their skulls right now

"Fair enough"

They both fired.

* * *

Kari woke up when the heavy door opened noisily. The guard pointed at Kari, "You. Here. Now" 

The guard's eyes were cold and lifeless. They sent a chill down Kari's spine.

She quickly got off the bed and walked over to the large man. Declan was lying on his bed. He opened an eye and whispered, "Don't give in. No matter what" as she went by.

The guard closed and locked the door as Kari walked through it. For some reason, she wasn't frightened. She was expecting to be terrified.

"Looks like your causing a lot of trouble around here – Master wants to see you" the guard lead her down a corridor towards a high security door. The man on the other side opened it when he saw the guard coming.

Kari followed the man through the darkened corridors. She started to wonder if she'd ever see Declan again. 'Wherever you are Tai, please come soon' she thought to herself.

* * *

Patrick jumped awake. He was in a cold sweat. 

It had all been a dream…all a dream…all a dream and a scarily realistic one at that.

The first part was ok, he regularly had dreams about war, but he had never died…then that lake…and the camp.

The image of the Sora being shot was etched into his mind. How would he be able to cope with life if one of them was killed?

Patrick shook his head. 'No, must concentrate on the mission at hand – getting Declan back'

He looked at his watch. Five thirty in the morning. 'Gotta get more sleep' he thought, and feel back over.

* * *

The USS Shiloh sliced through the water of the channel, silently heading for its destination. 

The Captain looked out towards the distant port of Complex 14. This was a standard refuel and rearm, as well as a short break for the crew.

"Sir," One of the crew sitting at a console said shouted out, "Transmission received from PCX14 – requesting assistance"

"Tell them that we are on station and ready for further orders" the captain ordered

"Yes sir" The officer turned back to the console and sent the message.

* * *

Yolei was lying awake, the glare of her D-Terminal in her eyes. She had woken up a while ago and couldn't get back to sleep, there was just so much on in her mind, so she took out her terminal and started checking some things. 

For a start, she tried E-Mailing Izzy, in case this was all just a big joke and they were actually in their digital world. She soon realised it wasn't when an error message appeared.

The girl was about to try texting home when she heard a noise outside. Snapping her head around, she froze when she saw a large shadow loom over the tent.

She could also see another shadow on the other side, and could hear someone in the middle of the camp.

Yolei started to panic. Who were they? What did they want?

A chill shot down her spine when a hand started to open the entrance to the tent.

She did the first thing that came to her mind. She started screaming.

Unknown to her, she had actually done the best thing in that situation, because she had unleashed hell upon the intruders.

She woke up Patrick.

* * *

"Captain, we have detected a becon from friendly ground troops" The radio intercept officer turned to the captain. 

"Lock the co-ordinates into three LASMs. Prepare to fire on confirmation"

"Yes sir!" The man started punching in commands.

* * *

The sound of bullets echoed through the night, but none of them were 9mm rounds from the MP5 submachine guns the commandos had brought. 

They were 5.56mm rounds, from a G36K assault rifle.

Patrick had immediately grabbed his rifle when he heard Yolei's screaming. This is what it was there for. Opening the entrance to his tent, he immediately saw a commando squatting beside the charred remains of the fire laying a small black box on the ground.

Patrick slammed the rifle into burst-fire and nailed three rounds into the back of his head. He fell over on top of the box.

He snapped around and saw why Yolei was screaming. There were about five commandos around the camp, one of which was at the entrance of her tent.

* * *

"We have confirmation" 

The captain picked up a red handset beside him that went directly to weapons control, deep in the bowels of the ship.

"FIRE!" he yelled

A few seconds later three streaks burst out of the vertical launch tubes in the bow of the warship in a cloud of grey smoke, a long trail of fire following them into the sky.

* * *

Hawkmon woke up to see Yolei scramble to the rear of the tent, away from the entrance. She had an expression of pure terror. 

When the digimon turned to look at the entrance, he saw a dark figure like the ones at the school, reaching over to her. Hawkmon jumped up too attack just as three bangs sounded out, resulting in the figure falling limp on the ground.

The radar officer picked up the three LASMs on his glowing screen

"ETI - Three minutes and counting"

* * *

Patrick nailed the guy in the back, and turned to the other commandos, who were all now looking at him. 

Jamming the rifle into automatic fire, he raked the line of them, dropping every one, apart from three behind him.

He heard a click of a safety being switch off just as the digimon appeared from their startled partner's tents.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Spiral Twister!"

"Bubble boom!"

Patrick heard three thumps behind him as the attacks hit their mark.

"Thanks guys" said Patrick

"Errrr...Patrick?" Hawkmon was standing in front of Yolei's tent, trembling slightly

The seventeen year old spun around, "What's wrong?"

He nodded towards the tent behind him, "I think Yolei's brain broke…"

* * *

"Two minutes to impact"

* * *

"One of youse talk to her, she's just a bit traumatised" Patrick said as he came back out of Yolei's tent 

Sora sighed, "I'll talk to her"

"Ok, I'll do a damage report" he looked around the camp, and stopped at the commando lying slumped over a small black box.

* * *

"One minute to impact"

* * *

Patrick kicked the body out of the way to get a look at the box. 

It had a small screen and a flashing red dot beside it. The flashing was getting faster and faster.

TK walked over Patrick, "What is it?"

"Not sure…" Then it hit him like a truck, and his eyes went wide. He aimed his G36K at the box and fired a two round burst. The bullets simply ricochet off it, hitting a nearby tree.

"Shit! Digizoid!" He turned to TK, "Abandon the camp…NOW! GO!"

"What's going on?" Tai ran over to the two.

"NO TIME TO EXPLAIN, JUST GRAB WHAT YOU CAN AND RUN!" Patrick shouted as he dashed over to his tent.

Blackagumon was still sleeping on the floor.

"Light sleeper my ass!" Patrick kicked the digimon as he grabbed his pack and PDA.

Blackagumon jumped up, "Whowhatwhere…"

"We're getting out of here!"

"But I haven't eaten…"

"GO!"

* * *

"Thirty seconds to impact"

* * *

Patrick started running into the bushes when Sora called him over, "What about Yolei?" 

He span around, "Oh, fuckberries!"

He dumped his pack in front of Sora, who took the hint and grabbed it before running after the others.

Patrick jumped into the tent, where Yolei was still curled up whimpering softly.

"Come on!"

"No! I've had enough, I'm staying here!" She said stubbornly

"Tell that to your parents when I tell them you were _KIA_" he grabbed her arm

"GET OFF ME" Forcing Patrick to let go

Patrick bowed his head, "This is gonna hurt me a lot more than you…" he muttered. Before Yolei had time to react, Patrick's digivice glowed, before violently giving off a shockwave that hit Yolei head on.

She fell limp on the ground, out cold.

Patrick lifted her up onto his shoulder, "…I'm so sorry"

He could almost hear the missiles now. Any second now they would turn this camp into a smoking crater...

* * *

"Twenty seconds!"

* * *

Patrick emerged from the tent and immediately started running. He had forgotten which way the others had gone, but as long as it was far away he didn't care. 

He just started running, fast.

"Running time!" he yelled

* * *

"Ten seconds!"

* * *

The three Land Attack Standard Missiles (LASMs) streaked through the twilight sky. A a certain point, they slowly started their descent into the forest below. 

Their advanced sensors were locked onto the little black box set by one of the commandos, but they could not pick up the seventeen-year-old boy carrying a thirteen-year-old girl away from their target…

* * *

"IMPACT!"

* * *

The three missiles slammed into the ground, causing a massive fireball, twenty meters in diameter, easily engulfing the camp. Declan heard a booming explosion in the distance. He jumped up from his bed and hurried over to the barred window. 

He could see a stream of smoke billow from the forest. Declan just sighed and went back to bed.

"Another one bites the dust…" he said before closing his eyes, cradling his arm.

* * *

"Son of a bitch…" Patrick slowly rose; wiping the layer of dust and dirt the shockwave had flung onto him. 

He and Yolei were just outside the blast when it went off, far enough away to avoid burns but close enough to feel the full force to the shockwave. They were flung into the dirt, but Patrick had landed hard ontop of Yolei. Patrick was sure she's have some sort of injury from that!

Patrick rolled Yolei onto her back. She was still breathing.

'She's gonna be out for a while' he thought. Turning to what used to be their camp, he saw nothing but fire and smoke. He hoped the others had gotten farther enough away to avoid the blast.

Patrick suddenly froze. The camp was now errily similar to the on in his dream. Had he seen the future or something? He hoped not, because then Sora was gonna get shot...

"Damn! Their goes our element of surprise!" He said to thin air.

In the distance he could hear shouting, "PATRICK…YOLEI…WHERE ARE YOU!"

Patrick called them over. A few seconds later Tai and the others emerged from the bushes.

"Oh thank God, you're ok" Sora dropped a rucksack beside Patrick as she ran over to the girl lying beside him.

"Is she alright?" Tai asked

"Sorta, I think she hurt her foot when we landed"

"Landed?"

"We were blown away by the blast. Still can't get the ringing out of my ear" he started scratching his left ear.

"What was that anyway?"

"One of those commando things armed a radar becon. When I nailed him he fell on the trigger. That must have been the backup plan if we woke up – blow us to pieces"

TK walked over, "So what now?"

"Firstly, we can't go back – the TV set doesn't exist any more. Secondly, they know we're here now – so we'll have to attack fast, while they think we're regrouping"

"We should attack while it's still dark," Tai added

"Just what I was thinking," Patrick smiled, "Your getting good at this"

"Thanks"

"Well we better get moving then," said TK

Patrick looked at his watch. It was slightly cracked, but he could still make out the '6:17 am' on the digital display.

Damn, he had only gotten 45 minutes more sleep.

"Ok guys," he bent down and picked up Yolei's limp body, "lets move out!"

They started walking in the general direction of the castle, the digimon scouting ahead.

_So there's more to Patrick than meets the eye…hmmmm…interesting_


	13. Specifications

_The one and only, factfile chapter!_

_Though it does have a bit of story behind it _

_By the way, can somebody please tell me how you put images into stories?_

_Thank you _

Chapter 11 – Specifications

The group walked briskly towards their target. Yolei was still out, so Patrick had to carry her.

The entire way.

'How did I get myself into this?' He thought.

"So Patrick," Tai broke the silence, "Is there anything we might need to understand? You know, to pass the time"

Patrick smiled, "Sure, there's a lot of stuff acutally..."

* * *

**_Military Jargon  
_**

_Caliber_ – Size of the bullet used

_Rpm_ – In the military this stands for Rounds per Minute, not revolutions

_Cyclic rate of fire (ROF)_ – Number of bullets fired in one minute. Does not include reload time, so for example, the M16 has a ROF of 800 rpm. That means that if you somehow managed to get an 800 round magazine, it would take a minute to empty it. Measured in rpm.

_Magazine_ – The cartridge that hold the rounds 

_Range_ – How far the bullet can travel

_Effective range_ – How far the bullet can travel and still be effective. There is little point at shooting at something past the effective range

_Length_ – Measured from the end of the stock to the end of the barrel

_Weight_ – Always weighed with a full magazine

_NATO Round_ - This is the standard round (5.56mm), and used in most modern rifles

* * *

And now, for the arsenal!

* * *

_** The M4A2 Carbine**_

Caliber – 5.56mm NATO round

Weight – 3kg

Mag Capacity – 30 Rounds

Fire settings – Single/3 round burst/full auto

Length – 838mm

Range – 500m

Effective Range – 360m

ROF – 900rpm

Other notes – The M4A2 is just a M16 with a shorter barrel, so has a higher ROF but lower accuracy

Used by – Riflemen, Tai, Sora, Yolei

**(M4/M203)**

The M203 is a 40mm grenade launcher that clips onto the front of the rifle. So far, this has only be used by Cap, though Patrick gave it to TK before using the portal.

* * *

_**The M16A2 Assault Rifle**_

Caliber – 5.56mm NATO round

Weight – 4.47kg

Mag Capacity – 30 Rounds

Fire settings – Single/3 round burst/full auto

Length – 1006mm

Range – 600m

Effective Range – 550m

ROF – 800rpm

Other notes – A longer barrelled version of the M4, with higher accuracy but lower ROF

Used by – Cap, Patrick while defending the school (During the battle of the gym he used the M16/M203 variant)

* * *

**_The G36K Assault Rifle_**

Caliber – 5.56mm NATO round

Weight – 3.3kg

Mag Capacity – 30 Rounds

Fire settings – Single/2 round burst/full auto

Length – 320mm

Range – 500m

Effective Range – 360m

ROF – 750rpm

Other notes – I. Love. This. Gun.

Used by – Patrick

* * *

**_The G3A3 Assault Rifle_**

Caliber – 7.62mm

Weight – 4.4kg

Mag Capacity – 50 Rounds

Fire settings – Single/full auto

Length – 450mm

Range – 475m

Effective Range – 400m

ROF – 600rpm

Other notes – Patrick brought this gun to the future, but left it in the camp

Used by – None

* * *

**_The PSG1 Sniper Rifle_**

Caliber – 7.62mm

Weight – 8.1kg

Mag Capacity – 50 Rounds

Fire settings – Semi-auto

Length – 1208mm

Range – 5000m

Effective Range – 1500m

ROF – N/A (The ROF of sniper rifles is unnecessary because they are designed for accuracy, not speed)

Other notes – Best sniper rifle _ever_. That's German quality.

Used by – Patrick

* * *

_**The M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon)**_

Caliber – 5.56mm NATO round

Weight – 7.1kg

Mag Capacity – 200 Rounds

Fire settings – Full auto (duh)

Length – 1040mm

Range – 3200m

Effective Range – 1000m

ROF – 1000rpm

Other notes – Hasn't been used yet, but Patrick has it in his pack

Used by – None so far

* * *

**_The MP5 submachine gun_**

Caliber - 9mm

Weight - 3.38kg

Mag Capacity - 30 rounds

Fire settings - Single/2 burst/3 burst/full auto

Length -680mm

Range - 300m

Effective Range - 100m

ROF - 800rpm

Other notes - A submachine gun is just a handgun with a larger magazine and a far higher ROF

Used by - Riflemen Commandos, Future Cody

* * *

And now for the handguns. You may notice that I haven't included Range, ROF or Fire setting. This is because all handguns these days are semi-automatic, and are designed for accuracy at close range

* * *

**_The USP_**

Caliber – .45 ACP

Weight – 0.79kg

Mag Capacity – 12 Rounds

Length – 200mm

Other notes – All the digidestined have one (Except Patrick), but haven't used them…_yet_

Used by – None

* * *

**_The M9_**

Caliber – 9mm

Weight – 1.2kg

Mag Capacity – 15 Rounds

Length – 216mm

Other notes – The most common gun in the US military

Used by – Declan, TK, Yolei

* * *

_**The Desert Eagle (AKA The Deagle)**_

Caliber – .44 Magnum

Weight – 1.7kg

Mag Capacity – 7 Rounds

Length – 260mm

Other notes – Very powerful, but huge recoil

Used by – Patrick, TK

* * *

"Well that was alot of info" Sora added 

"Aren't you better off for it now" said Patrick, still carrying Yolei

"Yeah, I've _always_ wanted to know the 'cyclic rate of fire' for a sniper rifle!" Tai said sarcastically

"They don't have one, remember?"

"No, for a fact"

"Well anyway, we're here"

Patrick and the others stepped onto a pebbled beach. About half a klick away was the castle. All they had to do was get across somehow.

"Is everyone still sure of the plan?" Patrick asked around

"Yeah, we go in through the dock, access the compter network, find when they're keeping Kari, then find their portal and go home! " TK said very quickly

"Very good. But we'll have to find a way across first" said Patrick

"Leave Yolei here, I'll look after her. The rest of you search down the shore for anything we could use" Sora sat down beside Biyomon

"Best idea I've heard in a while" He carefully set Yolei down and stretched, "Ow...God, I needed that! Right, I'll go this way, youse go that..."

* * *

Now what you've all been waiting for, I give you, the O'Reilly family!

* * *

**Patrick O'Reilly**

Age: 17 (and a bit)

Height: 1.85m

Weight: 205kg

Hair: Ashburn

Hairstyle: Mostly flat but tends of get caught in the wind, much to his annoyance

Eyes: Dark brown

Digiworld clothes: Combat fatigues with hiking boots

Build: Medium

Favourite saying: "It's complicated…"

Favourite weapon: M249 SAW

Bad habits: Sleeps with a G36K under or beside his pillow

Hobbies: Hacking the digital world, training in DRs, playing computer games

Digivice colour: Steel grey

Crest: Rage

Digimon: Blackagumon -> Darkgreymon -> Skullgreymon -> Blackwargreymon (->Warmarinedramon)

Other notes: Light sleeper, likes marshmallows, one of the first digidestined

Author notes: You won't like him when he's angry...just ask Tai

Favourite quote: "Purple hair?"

**Declan O'Reilly**

Age: 11

Height: 1.43m

Weight: 102 kg

Hair: Dark, dark brown

Hair style: Spiky fringe but mostly flat

Digiworld clothes: Blue bodywarmer added

Eyes: Black

Build: Slight

Favourite saying: "Sure it is…"

Favourite weapon: M16A2/M203

Bad habits: Extreme sarcasm

Hobbies: Drawing, soccer, playing computer games

Digivice colour: Unknown so far

Crest: Unknown so far

Digimon: Penguinmon

Other notes: Very loyal to his older brother

Author notes: One tough little kid. Have _you_ ever seen an 11 year old break his arm back into place?

Favourite quote: "Damn. My turn. Well, it was nice knowing you"

* * *

**Five minutes later**

Yolei slowly opened her eyes. What had just happened? The last thing she remember was Patrick...in her tent.

What was Patrick doing in her tent?

Shuddering she sat up.

"Oh, your awake" She heard a voice behind her

Yolei spun around. It was Sora.

"What happened?"

"Our camp got attacked. You sorta freaked and then passed out when Patrick came to rescue you"

Yolei sighed with relief. He had came to rescue her...

"Where's everyone now?"

"Looking for a way to get into the castle. Cody said entry through the docks was the easiest way, remember"

"Oh yeah..." Yolei lifted herself of the ground, but soon colasped in a wave of pain.

"Ahhh...owww..."

"Oh yeah, Paddy said you might have a few injuries from the blast"

"Blast?"

"Thats right, you passed out before out camp was airstriked"

"Oh...ok..."

"Just stay here, the others should be back soon..."

Just then, Patrick came jogging down the beach.

"Get the others" he said, "I found a way in..."

* * *

"A speedboat?" Sora was amazed, "Whats that doing here?" 

"God knows" Patrick had reverted back to carrying Yolei due to a badly sprained ankle

In front of them was a small jetty leading out to a large speedboat fixed to the end.

"So we're just gonna drive it into the dock and hope they don't notice"

"Firstly, it's still quite dark, so it sould be easy enough to sneak in. Secondly, I think it's theirs, so they won't mind us too much"

"And what if they start firing?"

"In that case," Patrick removed the M249 SAW from his rucksack, "We start firing back"

"What about me?" Yolei asked, "I'd just be a sitting target"

"You stay here. I've got plans for you"

She cocked an eyebrow, "What sort of 'plans'?"

Patrick smiled, "Have you ever used a PSG1 before?"

* * *

Sorry, just had to add this in:

* * *

**_The USAS-12 Automatic Shotgun_**

Caliber - 12 Gauge

Weight - 6.2kg

Mag Capacity - 20 rounds

Fire settings - single/full auto

Length -960mm

Range - 30m

Effective Range - 10m

ROF - Not that good

Other notes - It's a shotgun, so using it at long range is asking for trouble

Author notes - Patrick + USAS Pain

* * *

"Ok, so are you sure your fine" Patrick asked Yolei 

"Yes, I'll be ok. Hawkmon can look after me" Said Yolei

Patrick had made a small trench by the beach where the girl could go prone with the PSG1 and still have a good view of the castle. She was going to be thier sniper support.

It was starting to get bright, so they had to move fast. Tk was looking around with Patrick's scope set to night vision.

"Got your USP handy?"

"Yes, so calm down, I'll be fine"

"Patrick?" Tk turned to the teenager

"Yeah"

"I'm hoping the USS Shiloh is on our side..."


	14. Counter counter counter Attack

_Just so you know, anything with slash infront of it is a computer command_

_Why am I tell you this?_

_ I ain't saying! Read and find out for yourself!_

_You never know, you might just enjoy it... _  


Chapter 12 – Counter-counter-counter Attack  


"This place just keeps getting more and more random" Patrick looked though the green scope at the warship sliding towards the dock. The words _USS SHILOH_ were emblazed on the side.

"Hold on a sec" he pulled out his PDA and started tapping. A few minutes later he put it away and returned to the scope, "Just as I thought, it's a real ship from our time period"

"Is that good or bad?" Sora asked

"Considering that a US Navy destroyer is just about to dock in the digital world, I'd say that's bad for us. They must have ties with the US military"

"I taking that's bad then"

Patrick turned to Sora, "The most powerful Naval force in the world is on their team. Yeah, I think that's bad"

He looked through the scope one last time before putting it away, "Right, this changes things. I don't want to send too many people to the docks because of the Shiloh. Me and TK will go through the docks. If Blackagumon reverted to in training, he should easily fit in your pack. We're gonna have to be stealthy, so I've got some MP5SDs. When we get to a computer terminal I'll try and disable the SAMs. Then I want Birdramon to drop Tai and Wargreymon into the base. We'll go down and find Kari, while youse find their portal. Then we'll link up and go home," he smiled, "How's that?"

"Not to bad. But how are you so sure you could disable the defences from any computer terminal?" Tai asked

"It's complicated, so leave that part to me" he turned to the TK and nodded towards the speedboat, "Come on. Lets initiate Plan C3A!"

"C3A? Dare I ask what that stands for?" Yolei asked

"Simple," he smiled "Counter-counter-counter attack!"

"What!"

"Think about it, they attacked the school, thats an attack. We had a counter attack. They then 'counter-counter attacked' out camp, so that means that we're 'counter-counter-counter' attacking!"

The group just stared at Patrick

"What? That can't be too complicated!"

"It's not, we just think it's the most messed up thing we've ever heard"

"You think thats bad, what if I was to tell you that digiports use a method of transportaion that includes breaking you up into a stream of electrons, then reasembling you effortlessly in a digital state in an environment of data"

"Look, stop going all Izzy on us and make with the plan!" Sora snarled

* * *

The great warship slowly started to approach the dock. On the dockside, a man dressed in black robes was standing with three bodyguards, two of which were clearly female. They were also dressed in black and were each wearing a balaclava, as well as huge amounts of body armour. 

So much attention was focused on the cruiser that nobody really noticed the speedboat slip into the dock.

* * *

Patrick jumped out of the boat onto the jetty and moored the boat. TK soon followed. 

The only thing between them and the Shiloh was a large yacht, moored in the dock between them.

Patrick moved to the end, MP5SD in hand. All they needed to do was reach the passage leading into the mountain. It wasn't heavily guarded and everyone seemed to have their backs to it.

"You two ok in there?" TK shook his rucksack

"We're fine" he heard Patamon say

"No we're not, you keep sticking your wing in my eye!" They heard Koromon say

"That's because you're on my side again!"

"Sides? There are no sides! It's all one space!"

"Quiet down you two, we don't want to give our position away!" Patrick hissed, "Ok, here's the plan, I'm going to run over to that wall their beside the corridor. When I give the signal, you follow, right?"

"What if they see you?"

"We're screwed. Well, here goes…"

Patrick aimed his submachine gun at the rock face that had the large opening into the mountain, and ran as fast as he could towards it.

* * *

Yolei was watching the whole thing through the scope of her PSG1. Patrick had just sprinted over to that rock and crouched behind it. TK followed, then they both cautiously walked into the large tunnel, and she lost sight of them. She was amazed that nobody had seen them.

* * *

The two boys walked carefully down the tunnel. They soon found a side passage that led off to the right. They took that, as they were sitting ducks in the open tunnel. 

After a few close encounters with guards, which Patrick disposed of in his own way, they made it to a security checkpoint.

They were standing at the corner of the corridor. Around the bend, about 20 metres away, was a metal blast door. Beside it was a small cubicle, where a guard was sitting, shielded from the intruders.

"Hey TK, watch this" Patrick said

TK was shocked when Patrick casually walked out into the corridor and started whistling. The guard stuck his head out of the cubicle, but before he could shout "HEY!" three 9mm rounds hit him in the head.

"Very nice, but now what?" TK asked as he walked into the corridor

"From what I can see, there's a computer terminal in that cubicle. Time to get hackin!" He ran up to the console and started typing at a furious pace, "You keep an eye out. If anyone comes, nail them"

* * *

The captain of the Shiloh walked out onto the deck. A man in dark robes walked up onto the ship and approached him. Three highly armoured riflemen bodyguards followed him. 

"Supreme Commander, I come for refuelling and rearming. May I trust it will be done well?"

"Yes, but we require something" The dark figure said

"What?"

"We need a few EM warheads. We are running quite…low on them and are expecting an attack soon."

"Of course," he gave an order to a nearby crew member to unload any spare EM warheads from the magazines, "What was that missile strike for? Is it linked with the expected attack?"

"Indeed. There was a camp of resistance forces southeast of here. Our commandos messed up the capture procedure so they armed the emergency beacon"

"Were they all eliminated?"

"I'm sure the EMP wiped them all out…"

"Sir, our LASMs aren't equipped with EM warheads"

"WHAT?"

"EM warheads are to big for the lightweight missiles"

The dark figure growled angrily, "In that case, some might of survived"

The captain lowered his head, "I am sorry"

"You are to stay here and help fend off the assault when it arrives. After, and _only_ after, may you depart. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir" the captain nodded

The robed man and his bodyguards marched back off the deck and back into the mountain.

* * *

"Hows it going?" TK asked 

"Not too bad, I'm still trying to get into the main defence server. Gimme a minute"

**59 seconds later  
**

"Huzzah! I'm in!" Patrick called TK over, "Shouldn't take too…long…now" Patrick's jaw dropped

"What's wrong?"

"That bastard Cody tricked us…"

* * *

"Do you think we'll ever get home?" Sora asked 

Her and Tai were by the pebbled beach, waiting for Patrick's signal.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…Patrick. Why do we follow him? How can we trust him?

"Do we have any other choice?"

"Yes. We could have waited back at that school for Davis and the others. We could have got Imperialdramon and Metalgarurumon. We could have done it _our_ way instead of _his_ way"

"We probably could of, but it's strange" he started scratching his head, "Every time he asks us to do something I have the sudden urge to obey"

"Yeah, I sorta get that too"

"What do you think it is?"

"No idea, but the truth is, I think he needs us more than we need him"

* * *

"What did he do?" 

"Take a look at this" Patrick tilted the monitor towards TK. It read:

**PCX-14 MAIN DEFENCE SERVER**

_RESTRICTED ACCESS_

ANTI ARMOUR DEFENCES – _ACTIVE_

ANTI INFANTRY DEFENCES – _SEMI ACTIVE_

EARLY WARNING RADAR – _ACTIVE_

ANTI SHIP DEFENCES – _ACTIVE_

ANTI AIR DEFENCES – _INACTIVE_

/dir antiairdefences

_Processing command_

**ANTI AIR DEFENCES:**

PAC-3 PATRIOT INTERCEPTORS – _Overhaul_

STINGER SAM BATTERIES – O_verhaul_

/info

_Processing command_

PAC-3 – Arming new EM warheads

STINGER – Arming new EM warheads

_Typical time taken _– 24 hours 

_Time until completion_ – 6 hours

Patrick looked at the TK sternly, "He lied to us"

"No…" TK was shocked

"The AA defences were offline this entire time"

* * *

"Biyomon digivolve to Birdramon" 

"Agumon warp digivolve to Wargreymon"

The two digimon stood in front of their partners, ready to fight.

"Ok guys, as soon as Patrick gives the signal, we're going into the castle, ok"

"Sure thing" the mega said

Just then a crackle came over the radio, "Ok guys, commence air attack. Yolei, take out that captain"

There were alarms in the background, "How did they find you two?" Sora asked

"Higher than expected security on the map server. Never saw it coming. By the way, Cody _was_ a spy. The defences have been off for the last 18 or so hours. They didn't even have EM warheads!"

Sora and Tai looked at each other in shock, "How could he…"

"Told ya he was evil but _noooooo_, you wouldn't listen. Anyway, I found the main prison complex. And guess who's there?"

"Kari!" Tai asked

"Yeah, as well as Declan! In fact, they're in the same cell!"

"Well that's strangely convenient. We'll meet you in the central courtyard"

Yolei's voice suddenly came over the radio, "Wait a sec, _take him out?_"

"Yeah you got a problem wi…SHIT, TK WATCH OUT!"

Suddenly a whole host of noises could be heard over Patrick's radio, mostly muffled by the sound of gunfire.

Patrick: TK! Get the digimon out! I'll cover you!

TK: With an MP5?

Patrick: I've had enough with that silenced piece of crap! I'm goin' SAW on their asses!

There was a huge blast as Patrick's M249 started dishing out automatic death

Koromon: Koromon digivolve to Blackagumon!

"YOLEI! TAKE THAT CAPTAIN OUT! NOW!"

* * *

TK opened up with his M4. There were a huge number of riflemen running towards them. Patrick was doing a good job holding them with his SAW, but needed to reload badly. Most of the troops were holding around the corner, while TK was sitting in the cubicle, poking his rifle out the side. Patrick was lying prone on the other side of the corridor, blasting survivors. The two digimon were standing in front of the cubicle, attacking from long range. 

"TK! GET THIS DOOR OPEN!" He nodded towards the huge blast door behind them

"HOW?" he yelled back over the noise of the automatic weapon

"THAT GUARD MUST HAVE AN ID CARD OR SOMETHING. USE IT ON THAT CARD SCANNER!"

Patrick gasped as his weapon's box magazine ran dry.

"But first, fire an M203 at that corner!"

"Sure thing," TK brought up his rifle and loaded a grenade into the launcher. He carefully aimed at the floor in front of the corner, about twenty metres away.

VOOOOM

The 40mm grenade hurtled down the corridor towards its target…

…and missed

The grenade exploded about two metres shy of the target

"You never told me these things shot on an arc!"

"Thought you knew…DAMNIT!" He was fumbling with the new box magazine, trying to get it on, "These things are a bitch to get on!"

TK could almost sense the flood of riflemen coming round the corner, so he quickly got to work looking for the id card.

* * *

Yolei lined the crosshairs up with the captain's head. 

"Well, here goes nothing" she clicked off the safety and prepared to fire.

Just then, the captain turned around, and faced directly at Yolei.

The girl gasped, but it was too late.

She pulled the trigger, sending the 7.62mm round into the captain's skull. He dropped like a stone, causing the crew to start running around yelling, "SNIPER! SNIPER!"

"Whats wrong Yolei?" Hawkmon asked

"That…captain…it is…it was…Michael…the American digidestined!"

_Dum dum duuuum_

_My classic chapter ending_

_Just to make myself clear, the USS Shiloh **is** a real ship_


	15. Reunion

_Oh, my, God. I get up this morning to find the number of reviews has gone from 4 to 14!_

_A big thanks to Haichi for the great set of reviews. I'll get to work on some of those problems right away!_

Chapter 13 – Reunion

"Pepper Breath!"

"Bubble Boom!"

The digimon's attacks were the only things keeping the riflemen from swarming over Patrick and TK, and were failing.

The seventeen year old was desperately trying to reload his SAW, which had jammed during reload. TK was sitting in the cubicle, looking for the guard's id card to open the blast door behind them.

"Got it!" TK held the card up triumphantly

"Great, now _use it_" Patrick threw the SAW away in frustration and took out his G36K instead. It might just have a lousy 30-round magazine instead of 200, but was far quicker to reload.

TK was swiping the card over the reader again and again, but to no avail. All he got was a small beep and a light appearing beside the word 'ERROR'

"It's not working!" He yelled

Patrick unloaded his clip before running towards TK. He simply wiped the blood off the card and tried again. It worked first time, and the huge digizoid doors creaked open.

"ALL ABOARD!" Patrick shouted at the two digimon, who wasted no time sprinting towards the blast door.

The two boys went to the other side and hit the close switch. The door slowly started to slide shut. Before it closed, Patrick dropped his G3, took out his Deagle and ran back over.

After shooting a few oncoming riflemen, he fired the remaining rounds into the card reader and computer console. Then, just before the door closed, he picked up his discarded M249 and jumped through the now tiny opening.

The door shut, and hydraulic rams locked the huge slab of metal in place.

"Well, that was fun!" Patrick fixed and reloaded his SAW before putting it back in his pack.

"Yeah, if you call being shot at fun!"

They both started reloading their rifles, just as Yolei's voice came over the radio, "Errrr…Patrick…I took the guy out"

"Good work. Any problems?"

"Not really…"

"Fine. Take Aquilamon and join up with Tai. Seeya there"

"All right…"

TK turned around, "Patrick…where are we?"

"I don't know, wh…" Patrick trailed off when he turned around

"Son. Of. A. Bitch" he stuttered

They looked over the colossal space that was the hanger.

* * *

Wargreymon landed in the central courtyard. There were riflemen swarming around the place, but diverted their attention to the mega digimon when it arrived. 

"Terra Force!"

The orb slammed into a group, incinerating them and creating a large crater.

"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon's attack took down more riflemen, but they just kept coming.

"Birdramon, set us down there, then go help Wargreymon!" Sora told her partner

"Of course" The huge bird landed on the outer wall and the two digidestined jumped off. Sora had Salamon in her pack.

Tai lifted his M4, "Do we really need these?"

Sora grabbed it off him and threw it along with hers off the edge of the wall. They watched it splash into the water below.

"Best plan I've seen in a while, but will we keep these?" He took out his USP

"Self defence, and to keep Patrick happy. We can explain how we 'lost' our rifles, but not those"

"Sounds good enough to me, now lets go find him"

The two walked inside as the battle raged on.

* * *

The hanger was a gigantic space. It was obviously taking up most of the mountain. At both ends were openings, where the planes took off at one end and landed through the other. The 'front' was extended outside by about ten metres just in case, and Patrick could also make out a catapult system used by Aircraft Carriers to accelerate fighters, therefore shortening the required runway length even more. A sports car generally goes from 0 to 60 in six or so seconds. A jet fighter on a catapult goes from 0 to 160 in little over two seconds! 

The hanger itself was easily 75 metres high, about 200 metres long and 100 metres wide. On the ceiling, catwalks led to a small command centre in the middle. Along the walls, planes sat ready to use. They ranged from small transport planes, private jets, and of course, Jet Fighters. The place was oddly empty.

"Wow…" TK was amazed by the huge space

"We've got to get out of here ASAP!"

"Why?"

Patrick threw up his arms, "Look around you! Do you see any cover? I don't! We're open targets out here!"

"Right…I see your point. So where to?"

Patrick pointed his rifle towards a small door on the other side, "That way to the main cells"

The two boys started sprinting towards the door, their two digimon barely kept up.

"Is he always like this?" Patamon asked

"More or less," Blackagumon said, "If you were ever at a T-Junction with gunfire coming from one way and silence the other, he'd _always_ take the fire fight way. No questions asked"

"Well, I sure hope we don't come across any of them"

* * *

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING AT THAT SCHOOL?" The interrogator shouted at Kari 

"I don't…know…we were just going to help someone with…"

"I'M NOT TAKING THAT CRAP ANYMORE!"

"Cool it, Sargent" The interrogator swung round to see a dark robed man walk in, closely followed by three bodyguards.

"Ah…master"

"Your not going to get anywhere using that method. Anyway, you might not have noticed, but the castle is breached. We've got a Mega and a Champion assaulting the courtyard, two kids with guns down in the hanger and two unarmed ones coming down from the main wall. Intel suggests they're all headed for the cells. Take all of your men down there"

"Rig…right away sir!" The large man walked out of the room

"Take her to the hanger," The man ordered his bodyguards, then he turned to a rifleman standing at the door "Call ahead to Runway HQ, I want my private jet and three escort fighters ready to go up on my signal"

"Yes sir!" The rifleman ran off

The dark man looked at Kari as she was dragged away, "This place isn't safe anymore, we're going somewhere they won't find us"

* * *

Declan heard the door opening at the end of the corridor. Poor girl, he thought, wonder how bad a state she's in. He heard footsteps, but stayed on the bed. He thought it was routine, but then there was an unusual 'pat' on the door, followed by the footsteps running away. 

'What the hell?' he thought. Suddenly, there was a 'BOOM' as the door was blown inwards. Declan instinctively covered his head as the dust swirled around the room. Then he slowly turned around and looked at the opening made. He could see a shape start to materialise out of the settling dust.

Declan's eyes went wide, "Patrick?"

* * *

Patrick walked up to the door and calmly set a small C4 charge on the lock. Then he ran over to where TK was squatting with the detonator. Patrick nodded. 

He lifted the detonator up and pulled the arming trigger, but before pressing the fire button, he said, "Fire in the hole"

The door blew open, sending a cloud of dust everywhere.

"I've always wanted to say that," said TK

Patrick raised his G3 and walked towards the opening. As the dust began to clear, he heard a small voice say, "Patrick?"

Declan ran up to his brother and put his only good arm around him and started hugging him, "Patrick! I knew you'd come"

"Don't I always?" Patrick eyed the limp arm to his brother's side, "What's wrong with your arm?"

Declan looked down on his dead limb, "They broke it" he muttered

"They…what?"

"You heard me"

Patrick brought up his G3 and slammed it into full auto, "Right, now their gonna pay"

"Who's that?" Declan nodded towards TK

"A friend. One of the Digidestined you emailed. Why did you do that anyway?"

"Long story. Anyway, I need you to do something before we go"

"Later, first lets get you patched up" Patrick took out some bandages he had taken from Tai before they left. He formed it into a sling.

"Where's Kari? I thought you said they were in the same cell!" TK said looked into the open cell

"Kari? Oh, yeah, she was taken to interrogation. I'd get there fast though, she probably won't last too long"

"Inte…inter…interrogation?" TK suddenly went pale, "What do you mean won't last long"

"I think you know what I mean, but first, there's something you might need to know Patrick"

"What?"

The boy pointed at a cell on the other side, "In there"

Patrick brought up his rifle and slowly made his way over to the door. When he got there, he froze. His eyes went wide, and he dropped his rifle.

"No…" he started pounding on the door

The girl on the other side lay motionless on the ground. Patrick stood back from the door and tried kicking to lock, to no avail.

"Have we anymore C4?" He asked quickly, shaking TK by his shoulders

"N…n…no, we only brought a small bit"

"Damn! Errrr… gimme that!" Patrick grabbed the M4/M203 rifle off him and started walking away from the door

"Stand back" he said, as he loaded a grenade into the chamber of the launcher

VOOOOM!

The door was blown open by the force of the blast. Patrick just shoved the smoking rifle back into TK's hands before rushing inside.

He knelt beside the body "Emma!"

The girl was about Patrick's age, but much shorter, with long auburn hair. Her clothes were ragged and torn everywhere, revealing large cuts and bruises. She showed no signs of waking up. Patrick checked her pulse.

"Barely here…"

"I'm not surprised, after what they did to her" Declan said, "Penguinmon and the others are in a prison cell near the portal room. Come on!"

"Wait, what about Kari!" TK asked

"We can get Kari later, Emma needs medical help! Tai has that stuff, we've got to meet up!"

Patrick heaved Emma onto his shoulders and moved out the cell, "You guys will have to cover me. TK, give Decky your USP"

Once everyone was ready, they followed Declan out of the cellblock.

* * *

The bridge onboard the USS Shiloh was a hectic place. Their captain had just been assassinated, and now a giant bird had just attacked their port! 

"WHO'S IN CHARGE?" The weapons officer shouted

"DOES IT MATTER? JUST TAKE THAT BIRD OUT…literally," the radio intercept officer said

_(A/N - Aircraft in the military are sometimes called 'Birds')

* * *

_

Tai stopped at a T-junction, "Which way?"

"Listen!" Sora said, and they both fell silent. Gunfire could be heard from the right.

"What would Patrick do?" Tai thought aloud

"Right, probably" Sora said

They looked at each other, "Left" they said together, and headed down the left-hand corridor.

Birdramon surveyed the damage below. Wargreymon had just finished taking out the last rifleman, and now it seemed clear.

"Watch out!" the mega yelled as five missiles appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the giant bird before she could dodge.

A huge cloud engulfed the digimon. Wargreymon could hear the bird screech as it reverted back to rookie.

A Biyomon fell out of the dust plume, falling rapidly towards the courtyard.

"I gotcha" Wargreymon intercepted the pink bird and landed gently.

"Are you alright?" he asked

"Just…just about"

"Lets go find the others"

The mega ran off into a random corridor with Biyomon in his arms.

* * *

The Radar officer onboard the Shiloh confirmed the kill. The crew in the bridge started cheering. 

"We sure took that bird down," the weapons officer said

"Look sharp – new target on approach"

One of the crew picked up their late Captain's binoculars and looked at the Aquilamon in the distance.

"Arm and lock more Sea Sparrows," He said, "We got another bird"

* * *

"Missiles!" Yolei yelled 

"Hold on!" the bird dived towards the water below and just skimmed the water as it picked up speed.

* * *

The three RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles shot towards their target at twice the speed of sound. 

Their target was a radar becon the Shiloh's Radar officer had locked onto Aquilamon. They followed the bird as it descended towards the water.

* * *

"Patrick, I've got three missiles on me. How do I shake them?" Yolei yelled into the radio 

"Did the Shiloh launch them?"

"Yes"

"Then they're probably Sea Sparrows. They have proximity fuses, so you can't just dodge them"

"Then what do I do?"

"Return to sender"

_I might just get one more chapter done this week, but I'm not sure_


	16. Rethink

_Yey! Thanks Haichi for finishing your set of reviews!_

_Elite Psychic Troops?_

_(Grabs Xbox and hides under bed) Scaryscaryscaryscary_...

_(Patrick runs to front door with USAS) Let me at 'em! _

Chapter 14 – Rethink

Wargreymon charged down the corridor. A rifleman walked into the corridor, only to get steamrolled by the rampaging mega.

"Any idea where you're going?" Biyomon asked

"Not really…they were talking about a prison a lot, so that seems the best place to start"

"But where's that?"

"I've no clue…wait" He came to an abrupt stop.

"What's wrong?"

Wargreymon looked into a small side passage and saw blood.

There was a dead guard lying on the floor, a bullet wound in his head.

"Patrick's been here" Wargreymon said

"Yeah, that's sorta his way of saying 'I was here'"

"Then we go this way" he jumped over the body and set off down this new route.

Just as his footsteps disappeared, a set of voices could be heard. On the original corridor, Declan, TK and Patrick (still carrying Emma) came round the corner.

"Then what do I do?" Yolei's voice was heard over the radio

Patrick smiled, "Return to sender"

"What's th…oh, I get you! Hey Aquilamon…" Patrick clicked his radio off

"Do ya think she'll work it out?" Declan asked

"I sure hope so. It's a hard manoeuvre to pull off, even in a Harrier. We'll have to see if Aquilamon's got the guts"

"Ok, if we follow this path, we should end up in the courtyard" Declan said

The group ran down the corridor and disappeared around a corner, and just as they were out of earshot, Tai and Sora appeared in the small side-passage.

"Well, at least we know Patrick's been here" Tai said

"Wait, did you just hear something?" Sora asked, sticking her head around the corner

"Yeah, sounded like Patrick. I think he went this way…" Tai started down the corridor…in the opposite direction Patrick's group went.

* * *

"Ok then, here goes…" Aquilamon swung round and accelerated towards the front of the docked warship. The three trailing missiles also swung around in a huge arc, one narrowly missing the castle wall. However, this triggered its proximity trigger, causing it to explode in a large fireball, taking a large chunk out of the castle. 

Unseen to them, a small wave of energy was also given off. The EMP shorted out all electronics on that side of the castle.

"Faster! They're gaining!" Yolei was holding on for her life.

"I'm trying! I've never had to outrun a missile before!" The bird growled.

* * *

The officer looked through the binoculars at the approaching target. In fact, he didn't need the scope anymore; the bird was getting closer with each passing second. 

"What are they doing?" he asked nobody in particular

"No idea, but they seem to be accelerating!" the radar officer frantically pressed buttons on his console, trying to keep the short-range radar in focus.

"Two hundred metres and closing! ETI – 30 seconds"

* * *

"You ready?" Aquilamon asked 

"As I'll ever be – do it" Yolei ducked her head down close the bird's feathered body and held on tight

* * *

"Twenty seconds!" 

"Open up with the Phalanx!"

"Right away"

* * *

The Phalanx CIWS (Close In Weapons System) Airborne Threat Defence spun around on its axis. It aimed its 20mm Gatling gun at the incoming threat, and unleased a deadly 50 round burst. 

Aquilamon was suddenly barraged with a hailstorm of bullets. He closed his eyes and just flew straight at the target, tring to dodge as many as possible, but failed.

The Phalanx is designed for taking out incoming missiles, making it an extremely accurate, efficient and quick-reacting machine. The bird digimon was huge target, so it didn't miss a round.

The giant bird screeched, but still headed for the Shiloh.

"Hold in there Aquilamon…" Yolei whispered

* * *

"The Phalanx had no effect!" the weapons officer shouted 

The radar officer turned and yelled, "Ten seconds! Brace for impact!"

A crewmember grabbed the intercom handset, and yelled "BRACE!"

The crew of the Shiloh immediately stopped what they were doing and grabbed the nearest secure object, waiting for the worst.

* * *

'Here we go' Aquilamon thought, as he came within ten metres of the ship. The Phalanx stopped its futile assault and lay silent, simply following the target with its barrel. 

The two remaining Sea Sparrow missiles shot towards Aquilamon at Mach 2, until the bird pulled off a cunning manoeuvre.

Aquilamon landed on the deck and simply jumped over the central control tower where the bridge was. Once he was over, he flew low against the water, hoping it would work.

The Sea Sparrows could still see their target, but they couldn't see what was between them.

The USS Shiloh.

Their proximity fuses detonated, ripping a hole in the mighty warship. There were no survivors.

The EMP created deleted the entire crew.

Aquilamon just flew as fast as he could, just outrunning the invisible EMP. The bird turned and Yolei sighed with relief.

"Thank God that's over. Now set down at the dock and we'll go find the others"

Once Yolei got off Aquilamon, she realised that her ankle was still to bad for her to walk. Her partner dedigivolved back to Hawkmon.

"How are you doing?" he asked

Yolei limped over to the corridor Patrick and TK had gone down about half an hour before.

"We can't go in like this, I'd be a target!"

"Then may _I_ make a suggestion?" Hawkmon asked

* * *

Tai and Sora felt a rumble in the distance. 

"What was that?" asked Sora

"No idea, but whatever it was isn't friendly," said Tai

"Hey, I bet Yolei has something to do with it"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because Patrick was explaining a plan to her a few minutes ago. Something about leading some missiles back to that cruiser, but that explosion felt inside the castle" Sora looked out a nearby window. It was overlooking the lake, but the docks were at the other side of the building.

"I'll ask Patrick," Tai clicked on his radio, "Paddy, you there?"

Tai could only hear static.

"Mine must be broke. You try"

Sora tried, but also got static, "What's going on?"

"This isn't good. We better find them soon" They both set out down the corridor

* * *

"Tai? Sora? Yolei? Anybody?" TK clicked off his radio, "Nothing" 

"Must be something the do with that explosion a wee while back," Patrick said, "How much further Decky?"

"Not far now. The courtyard is over there somewhere, but if we go down here…" The boy stopped when he saw a rifleman lying in the middle of the corridor. It looked like he had been walking out of a nearby room when he got trampled by someone...or something.

TK raised his rifle and slowly walked over to him. He kicked the body, hoping for a response.

"Is he dead?" TK asked.

Patrick took out his Deagle and fired a round into the rifleman's skull, "Now he is"

"Well…moving on then" Declan continued down the corridor towards their destination.

* * *

"Patrick, can you hear me?" Yolei spoke into her headset before switching it off, "No response" 

Halsemon stopped at a junction, "Which way"

"Errr…no idea"

"Which way would Patrick go?"

"Ok…if I was a crazy trigger-happy Irishman, which way would I go…" Yolei listened for any clues, just as a bullet whizzed past her head.

She ducked as another barrage came. Yolei could make out two riflemen standing at the end of the right corridor, "…I'd go that way…but as my normal self I'd say left"

The digimon turned away from the reloading riflemen and ran down the left corridor.

Declan stopped at a double glazed door, and nodded in its direction, "In there"

Patrick peeped his head around the corner and into the room, "Five guys, probably guards"

"Open and clear?" TK asked

Patrick took out a spherical grenade, "No. Open, frag and clear"

"That would damage the portal," Declan said

"Portal? Wait, I thought we were looking for Kari!" TK asked frantically

"We're all too scattered. We'll need to regroup before we can look for your girl," He clipped the grenade back on his belt and removed a long, cylindrical one, "Fine then: Open, flash and clear. Happy?"

"Ok then" Declan stood watch while Patrick set Emma down. The two boys took up their positions.

The door was located at a T-junction (Think of it as a crossroads, except one of the ways was a door) with quite a large corridor leading forward from the doors.

Patrick jumped over to the other side and slung his G3A3 over his shoulder. Removing the cylindrical grenade once more, he nodded to TK, who was standing at the other side, also ready.

TK held up three fingers and counted down.

3

2

1

TK smashed one of the glass doors with the butt of his gun, milliseconds before Patrick pulled the pin and threw the object in.

"INTRUDE…" There was a blinding flash of light, followed nanoseconds later by a deafening 'bang' as the flash-bang grenade went off. The guards dropped their M4s and grabbed their eyes and ears in pain.

Patrick and TK didn't miss a beat as they swung around together and opened up with their rifles. Seconds later, the room was clear.

TK entered the room with his rifle raised, looking for survivors. Patrick went and brought Emma's body in.

"Horrah! That was some clean Rainbow Six action there!" Patrick cheered

"Nice work…but what now?" Declan asked

"Errrr…" Patrick struggled to think

"Patrick, how did you plan on regrouping exactly?"

"Well…look on the bright side..."

"He's right I'm afraid. We're all separated, we haven't a clue where Kari is, which by the way was our main objective, and this place is crawling with riflemen! TK shrugged, "I mean, where's the bright side?"

Patrick sat at a console and set his brain into overdrive mode, "Ok, gimme a sec on that one"

* * *

Sora peered down the huge hole in the floor, "Oh my God…I can see the water below" 

Tai was holding onto Sora's Flak Jacket so she could safely get a look down the huge pit.

"Then this must have been where the rumble came from" Tai said as he pulled the girl back up.

"Really? I'd never have guessed!"

"Look, lets just find Patrick. I'm gonna try the radio again," He clicked his radio on, "Hey guys? Can you hear me?"

* * *

"Ok, I've got it…" Patrick stood up just as his radio headset burst to life, "…guys…hear me?" 

Patrick clicked on his radio, "Tai is that you? I can barely make you out man!"

"…have…Kari?"

"No, we haven't. Where are you?" Patrick spoke slowly and clearly

"…not…corridor…their's…missing…building…" The signal was getting worse

"Look just get to the courtyard so we can find Kari and go home"

"…do…that…"

Patrick turned his radio off and turned to the others, "Now where was I…oh yeah!"

* * *

"…you…barely…out…" Tai listened to Patrick's voice. The interference was really bad. 

"Look, have you found Kari yet?"

"…haven't…you…" Tai looked at Sora in confusion

"Of course not! Most of the corridor we're on is gone, their's a huge chunk missing from the building!"

"…get…courtyard…go home" The signal seemed to improve near the end

'Go home' thought Tai, "How do we do that? Patrick, you there?"

There was no reply.

"Dammit, the signal's dead again!" He switched the radio off, "Where's Izzy when you need him?"

"Lets double back to the courtyard" Sora turned around and headed back down the corridor, "He mentioned that didn't he?"

Tai shrugged, "Good enough for me"

* * *

Patrick took out his M249 SAW and set it down on its bipod. His plan was simple – defend this room until the others could find them. The portal room had only one entrance, so that's where their firepower was going to be concentrated. 

Patrick and TK had placed crates from the vast portal room in the three corridors, mainly the front one since it was the largest. Patrick had set up his SAW in the main corridor (from now on to be called 'North'), whereas TK was holding the right ('East') and Declan would keep and eye out on the left ('West').

Now all they had to do was wait for the enemy to come to them.


	17. Regroup

_I'm not entirely sure if the old digidestined have D-Terminals, but for the story's sake, they do._

_Well, what can I say Haichi, apart from thank you for your support.  
_

Chapter 15 – Regroup

The Sargent stared at the empty cells in disbelief.

"How could this have happened?" he said to himself. There were supposed to be constant patrols and checkups. How could resistance troops just walk in and take two prisoners from under their noses?

His thoughts were broken when he heard gunfire in the background. A rifleman ran up to him.

"Sir, targets sighted and engaged. One Wargreymon and one Biyomon, mega and rookie level respectively"

"Very good," he turned to the troops scouring the remains of the cells, "All of you, engage the threat"

The riflemen stood to attention, "Sir, yes, sir!" then they charged out of the room.

* * *

"Mega Tornado!" 

"Spiral Twister!"

More of the riflemen fell, leaving more in their wake. There was an army of them!

"You going ok?" Wargreymon asked

"I'm fine, but you must be getting tired"

"I'm not done yet" the mega swiped at a lone rifleman. Another volley of bullets hit him.

"Why don't you use that Terra Force?"

"Because it might damage the walls and cause a cave-in. I think Kari is still in there"

"Oh, right"

The two digimon fought into the flood of riflemen covering the corridor leading to the cells. What they didn't realise, was that the Sargent's suicidal tactics were paying off.

* * *

"Right, TK, gimme your D-Terminal" Patrick put his hand out 

"Why?" TK asked

"Because you have all the addresses of the others. I'm gonna use it to track their position. That way we can help them find us"

"…ok" TK handed Patrick his D-Terminal, "Just don't be looking anything else up"

"What, trying to hid something?" Patrick smiled at TK

"No!" he snapped

"Cool it. Lets see now…Yolei…Tai…Sora" he input each address into the computer. When he was finished, the console thought for a second, and then displayed a large overview map of the building with three flashing dots. Two were right beside each other and moving quite slowly, whereas the third was moving rapidly thought the building.

"Ok, I'm gonna guess those two are Tai and Sora, and that one is Yolei, but why is she moving so fast?" Patrick thought aloud.

Just then, Patrick heard shots from outside. Grabbing his G36K, he ran out the door. Declan was desperately trying to fend off a load of riflemen coming down the north corridor with his USP.

"Glad you could make it!" Declan shouted over the roar of the firefight.

"Go back and give the others directions! Take TK's headset" Patrick dived beside his M249 and opened up on the riflemen.

"Rodger that!" Declan ran back through the glazed doors into the portal room.

* * *

"Hey, can youse hear me?" Yolei stopped Halsemon when she heard the voice over her radio. 

"Who's that?" she asked.

"I'm Declan, and I'll be your navigator today. Now are you the one who's on their own?"

"What on earth are you talking about? Where's Patrick?"

"Present" Patrick's voice came clear over the headset.

"Patrick! Oh good, the radios are working again! Now who's this Declan guy?" Yolei said quickly.

"My brother, so listen to him, he's gonna give you directions to us" Gunfire could be heard over Patrick's radio.

"That's great! We're both sorta lost. So which way?"

"Continue forward until you reach a junction…" the boy told her.

* * *

"We're lost aren't we?" Sora stopped completely 

"Hey, going back to the courtyard was _your _idea," said Tai

"Actually, it was Patrick's…"

"Yo! Guys, can youse hear me?" Patrick's voice was muffled slightly by gunfire

"Oh thank God, the radios are working again. Now where the hell are you?"

"At the portal room waiting for youse. My brother's going to give you directions once he's done with Yolei. Kay?"

"…oh…alright," Tai turned to Sora, "Looks like it's our lucky day"

* * *

"More, west entrance!" TK shouted 

"You take 'em. I got this end covered!" Patrick yelled back over the immense noise of the M249.

TK swung round to the other corridor and started picking off the riflemen trying to sneak up on them.

"Reloading! Cover me!" Patrick yanked off the empty magazine and fit on a new 200-round one. TK took care of the riflemen while he reloaded.

* * *

"Take the next left and watch out for Patrick's fire. There's loads of riflemen there I think" 

"Thanks, we'll look out" Tai said a he peaked around the corner. He could see a makeshift baricade out of crates and barrels. TK was standing in the middle with his M4/M203 blasting some riflemen in the adjacent corridor.

"Coast's clear, lets go" he motioned to Sora

* * *

"Friendlies! Hold your fire!" Patrick yelled as he saw Tai and Sora race down the East corridor. 

"Patrick, I never thought I'd be this glad to see you" Sora said

"Same here," Patrick fired a burst from his SAW downrange before turning to Tai, "You still got the medical supplies?"

"Errr…yeah" Tai took off his rucksack.

"Good, I need…hey, where are you M4s?" Patrick asked suspiciously.

"They jammed, so we dumped them" Tai said, sounding quite proud.

"Yeah, but did it ever cross your mind that you could _un-_jam them?"

"Well…"

"I'll take that as a no. If you didn't want to use them you should have just asked!"

"Right…sure, now what did you need the medical stuff for?" Sora asked

"There's…someone in the back there. Her name's Emma, and she needs some medical help"

"But I'm not a doctor!"

"Well do what you can. Tai - grab a handgun and help TK"

* * *

"You're getting close now. You should be able to hear Patrick soon" 

"I can only guess why" Yolei said.

"Take the next right, then left, and you should end up on the same corridor as us"

"Great. Well at least I can see a friendly face again"

* * *

"I'm running low on ammo! TK, take over" Patrick turned and ran into the portal room. 

"How's Emma doing?" he said as he rummaged in his rucksack sitting by Declan's console.

"I lost count of the number of cuts and wounds after thirty…I'm trying to bandage them up" Sora said, kneeling beside Emma

"Thanks. Declan, any sign of Yolei?"

"She's on the way. Give her…say…two minutes. West corridor"

"Great work. This plan seems to be working, no?" he said in the worst Russian accent _ever_.

"Well...sort of, there are some people you've missed though," Tai said, "Number one, Kari. Where the hell is she? Number two, Agumon and Biyomon. They're still fighting in the courtyard"

"You sure about that last one"

"…well…yeah, that's where we left them" Sora stuttered

"So you assume they're still there"

"Of course"

Patrick sighed, "Tai, the courtyard is a few metres on the other side of that wall," he pointed to the back of the room, past the portal platform, "If they were still there we should be able to hear them. But we don't, do we?"

Sora stood up, "So where do you think they are?"

"I'll work on that later. First, lets defend this place and get Yolei and Hawkmon in. Then I can finish my plan"

"What plan?" Tai asked

"Trust me on this, ok?"

Patrick turned to the door with his G36K, 'Come on Yolei, we're almost home free' he thought

* * *

"How many more are there?" Wargreymon said while slicing a rifleman to pieces. 

"I don't know, but I hope it ends soon. I'm getting tired…"

'You're not the only one' the mega thought.

* * *

Patrick fired his G36K at some riflemen down the west corridor when he saw Halsemon charge them from behind. 

"Purple hair downrange! Hold your fire!" Patrick chuckled, "You have no idea how long I've been wanting to say that"

"What?" Yolei asked when Halsemon reached the crate defences.

"Nothing, nothing, now get inside, we've been waiting for you"

* * *

The Dark robed man walked into the hanger control room, fixed to the ceiling of the huge space. There were only two people in the smallish room, mostly taken up with computers and radar images. His bodyguards were close behind him. 

"Where's my jet?" he demanded.

"Sir, your jet will be ready for flight in forty-five minutes" one of the operators replied, standing up.

"Do it in thirty, I'm in a hurry"

"…but…sir, we need at least three quarters of an hour to do pre-flight checks and to arm up the Hornets…"

"Silence! Half an hour or not at all!" the man stormed out of the room, his bodyguards close behind.

The blond-haired flight marshal collapsed back into his seat, "Man, does he ever stop complaining?"

The other flight marshal turned around. He seemed older, but was also blond, "Cool it, we'll get our turn someday…"

* * *

"You _still_ haven't found Kari!" Yolei said angrily. 

"I know where the interrogation room is from reading the schematics," Declan added.

"What about Agumon and Biyomon. Where could they be?" Tai asked.

Patrick thought for a second, "I have an idea" he sat back down at the console, "I noticed that each rifleman has a small transmitter implant. It's probably used to keep them loyal to the Dark Master. Crude, but very, _very_ effective"

"We're listening" Yolei said

"If I use the same program I used to find you three, except put in the frequency of the implants, I could locate every _live_ rifleman in this building"

"What did you mean by '_live_'?"

"That's my plan," he had already started typing into the console, "I just thought to myself 'what would I do in Wargreymon's situation?'"

"Let me guess: Look for the nearest army of riflemen and take them out!" Tai said.

Patrick smiled, "Bingo! You're learning"

"I thought so"

Patrick hit the enter key, "Boyah! It worked" the map of the building that was up before refreshed, this time with _thousands_ of dots instead of just three. Patrick tapped a spot near where it said 'Cell Block A'. There were so many dots that it just merged into one large one. However the dots seemed to be switching off one by one.

"What I meant by 'live' was that the transmitters stop functioning when you're dead. So according to this, there must be a huge battle going on there. My best guess is it's your digimon"

"And they're winning" said Yolei.

* * *

"Why are they retreating?" Biyomon asked 

Wargreymon just stood and watched as the riflemen ran back down the corridor, "I got a bad feeling about this…"

"Come on, let's get them!" the little pink bird ran down after them, but the mega quickly jumped in front.

"No! Lets wait for them. We need a rest"

"Ok, just try not to de-digivolve" the little bird sat down.

"I'll…try"

* * *

"But what about Kari? Come on man, we need to find her, that's the entire point we're here!" Tai said impatiently. 

"I tried the thing with the D-Terminals, but hers must be switched off" he shrugged, "Sorry guys, but I'm out of ideas"

Tai grabbed Patrick by the shoulders and started shaking him violently, "That's not good enough! We need to find her NOW!"

"Hey, break it up!" TK pulled Tai back, "We all want to find Kari, but fighting each other isn't gonna help!"

"Hold on guys, I might just have an idea" Yolei said.

* * *

The Flight Marshal looked down on the Learjet-45 being towed into place on the runway. He watched as two riflemen dragged someone into the hanger and towards the plane. 

'Hey she looks familiar' he thought.

He picked up his binoculars and focused on the girl…and he froze in horror.

"Kari?"

* * *

Kari felt herself being thrown into something. When she opened her eyes she saw she was in a very fancy looking aeroplane. 'This must be his private jet' she thought, 'and a very nice one too' 

The riflemen soon climbed into the plane, grabbed her again and threw her into a seat, where they strapped her down. They immediately departed, leaving her alone.

Once they were definatly gone, a wall monitor burst to life. On it was the picture of a man in some sort of uniform in a darkened control room. He looked strangely familiar.

"Kari?" the man said, "Is that really you?"

* * *

"I thought Patrick's plan was confusing Yolei, but this ones worse!" Sora said 

"It's simple really," Patrick told her, "The digivices have a the ability to detect other digivices, so if we amplify it's detection radius and overlay it on the schematics, we can track anyone with a digivice in the building!"

"Yeah…you lost me after 'detection radius'. Anyway, I don't care _how_ it works, just that it can find Kari!" Tai said.

Patrick's PDA started beeping. He took it out, "Riflemen inbound. Tai and TK, you take 'em. Me an Yolei will try and get this thing working"

"Sure thing," said TK as he and Tai ran out the doors.

* * *

Biyomon flapped her wings in frustration, "Come on, we need to get to Kari!" 

"Just gimme a minute, will you?" Wargreymon growled.

"Fine" the bird sat back down again.

* * *

TK unloaded his M4 into some riflemen then fired his M203 at a group coming round the corner. 

"Reloading" he announced.

Tai brought up his USP and fired a few rounds, "I'm getting sick of this. I wish Wargreymon was here"

"Don't worry," TK said as he slammed a new magazine in, "It'll all be over soon. Once we get Kari and the digimon, we'll be outta here, and you'll never have to fire a weapon again"

"Well, at least I'm fighting towards something then"

* * *

"Change the constant to five, then run the D3 program" Patrick said as he tapped the screen. 

Yolei responded by quickly making the changes and running the program, then cheering when it worked.

"Yay! There we go. Lets see…yeah, she's still in the interrogation room" Yolei said.

"Then it's settled, me, TK and Tai will move to the objective. We'll claymore the corridors so no one can sneak up on youse" Patrick declared.

"Ok then, we'll keep in contact with the radios. By the way, why did they stop working a while back?"

"Yeah, and what was with that giant chunk of the base missing?" Sora asked.

"Wait, Yolei, did any of the missiles you were evading hit the castle" Patrick asked.

Yolei thought for a second, "Yeah, one did. That explains the hole in the wall, but how is it linked to the radios?"

"If it had an EM warhead it would have caused a shit-load of interference for a while, then it would dissipate" Patrick explained.

"Yeah…ok, just go and get Kari, I'll look after Emma for you"

"By the way, there is another cell block not far from here," Declan said, "I think Penguinmon's there"

"All right, I'll go nab him first" he cocked his G3, "Ok, lock an' load!"


	18. The Promise

_I'll try not to disappoint, xxnewmikexx  
_

_BTW, my spell-check thinks 'Wargreymon' should be spelt 'Warrimoo'_

_Like…wtf? Is that even a word? Answers on a postcard please.  
_

Chapter 16 – The Promise

The guards of Cell Block C will never know what hit them. Within about three seconds, a teenager had stormed in and taken down all six guards with a G36K assault rifle.

He then continued to grab the keys from one of the dead guards pockets, look into each cell and open the one furthest from the entrance. A Penguinmon waddled out.

"What took you so long?" the small digimon asked.

"Nice to see you too, Penguinmon. Now follow me back to Declan," the boy walked towards the door, G3 raised, "and by the way, we picked up a few friends along the way"

"Since when did you have friends?"

"You're really looking to get blasted, aren't you? Now shut up and come on!"

* * *

A barrage of bullets whizzed down the corridor, narrowly missing Wargreymon and Biyomon. 

"They don't have much accuracy do they?" the mega said.

"Thankfully, or we'd be well on our way to Primary Village!" Biyomon exclaimed.

The two digimon jumped up to address the new threat – a large team of riflemen at the other end of the corridor.

* * *

"Decky!" 

"Penguinmon!"

The two partners ran at each other and grabbed each other in a hug.

"What happened to you arm?" the rookie asked.

"I was on the nasty end of some angry interrogators," Declan said.

"Talking of interrogators, next stop – the interrogation room" Patrick said. Tai and TK approached him, each carrying two crates.

"Here's the claymores," TK said, handing his crates to Patrick.

"I better set up the tripwires now" the teenager walked out into the intersection.

* * *

Kari watched as the dark robed man walked into the Jet and sat down opposite her. He was, as ever, closely followed by his bodyguards, one off which swung the door closed and sealed it. 

"Well Kari, long time no see," The man said.

"What are you talking about? Do I know you?"

The man laughed, "Why, of course you do! You meet me everyday almost!"

"I don't know anyone evil enough to cause such pain and suffering!"

"You'd be surprised"

Kari stared at the man in front of her. She couldn't see his face that well because of his hood, but something seemed eerily familiar about him. What was it?

"You seemed confused. Let me help you…" The man pulled back his hood, revealing his entire head, with dark navy hair and matching eyes.

Kari froze in horror, "No…it can't be…you..."

* * *

Patrick kicked down the door to the darkened interrogation room and scanned around. 

Empty.

"Dammit! She's not here!" Tai exclaimed. Blackagumon and Patamon were behind him.

TK looked at his D3, "But the digivices say she's in here. It doesn't make any sense!"

"Or maybe we were looking at this wrong the whole time" Patrick said, flicking on the flashlight on the end of his G36K.

"What makes you say that?" TK asked.

Patrick walked over to a small tray sitting on a small table in the corner and picked something out of it.

"What's that?" asked Tai.

Patrick showed the two boys what he had found. It was a pink D3.

"Oh…right…" Patamon said, hovering over the table and chairs in the centre of the room.

"This complicates things slightly," said Patrick solemnly.

* * *

Wargreymon fell to one knee in exhaustion, "I…don't know how…much longer…I can keep…this up," he panted. They had beaten all the riflemen at this end of the corridor. 

"Come on, for…" Biyomon started.

"I KNOW, I'M TRYING!" Wargreymon yelled.

"Oh…I'm sorry, I must sound like I'm nagging now," the pink bird apologised.

"Don't worry…I'm just so …oh please no!"

The two digimon watched in horror as the riflemen that had retreated before appeared around the corridor and arranged into three rows…

* * *

"Guys, we got a huge problem," Patrick burst over the radio. 

"What's wrong?" Declan asked.

"Kari's not here, just her digivice. Looks like there were holes in our plan, huh Yolei?"

"Yeah…I guess so," Yolei looked down in regret.

"Don't worry about it, I've got another plan. Yolei, can you access the logs for the interrogation room?"

"Logs?" Yolei asked, already typing into the computer.

"Yes, there was a CCTV camera in the interrogation room. If you can find the logs for it…you know, recordings…then we can find out what they did with her"

"Great! I'll get on that straight away!" Yolei suddenly became totally engrossed in the screen in front of her.

"We'll hold position until then"

* * *

The riflemen arranged themselves into three rows of six. The first was lying prone, each holding an Mk.23 SAW _(Different form Patrick's M249 SAW)_. The second row was kneeling, each with an M4/M203. The third, and probably most lethal, were standing with M72 LAW Antitank rocket launchers. 

Everything was aimed at Biyomon, who was behind Wargreymon.

"FIRE!" One of the riflemen shouted.

All at once, the riflemen opened up, sending bullets, grenades and rockets down the corridor.

Biyomon let out a small scream before closing her eyes. She heard the grenades and rockets explode, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Wargreymon in front of her.

The roaring mega disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

* * *

Patrick's PDA started vibrating, "Enemies nearby" he whispered to the occupants of the interrogation room. They watched in silence as two shadows walked past the translucent glass door. 

"Close" Blackagumon said, when he was sure they were gone.

"Almost too close. We'd better move out," said Patrick.

The boys walked to the door. Patrick crouched and creaked the door open. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he walked into the corridor. All the others followed.

"Patrick?" the seventeen year old hear a whisper over his radio, "Can we talk?"

It was Sora.

"Errr…hold on a sec guys. I need to get something" Patrick ran back into the room. Tai and TK held their firearms up while he was a way. The two digimon stood ready to fight.

The teenager walked back up to the tray. He was going to do this anyway, but now he had another excuse. There we more things in it: an old style digivice, a tag and crest, a camera on a necklace, and a D-Terminal. Patrick picked them all up and put them in his pocket.

"What's wrong Sora?"

"It's about Emma. I'm no doctor, but in my opinion…she's…"

"Come on, spit it out!"

"…she's dying Patrick. Without professional medical help she's going to die"

Patrick froze, "Like hell she is. I won't let her"

Suddenly, he heard a huge explosion in the distance.

"What was that?" he heard Tai asked.

"Um…no idea," Patrick answered as he switched of his radio and came out of the room, "But we're about to find out"

* * *

"WARGREYMON!" Biyomon screamed 

Once the dust started to clear, she could see straight at the riflemen in their rows. They were reloading for the second volley.

"No…you…can't be…gone" the pink bird stuttered as the smoke around where the mega level digimon had once been settled.

Wargreymon was dead.

* * *

The Learjet was taxied out of its parked position in the large hanger; it's twin engines whirring loudly. 

The Flight Marshal spoke into his radio to the pilot, "Jet-36, takeoff on Cat-5"

"Rodger, moving to Cat-5" the pilot replied.

The co-pilot flicked a few switches, "Catapult 5 is second most westerly one. Over there" he pointed it out.

"Excellent" the two pilots watched as four F/A-18F Super Hornets were taxied onto catapults one through four.

They weren't clear to take off until those escorts were airborne. In fact, the reason their flight was delayed was the amount of time it took to fuel and arm them on such short notice.

One of the catapult officers secured the front gear into place on the catapult shuttle and signalled the command centre on the ceiling.

Lights above the exit were illuminated. They looked like a pair of traffic lights over each catapult, except pointing horizontally. They were all currently red.

Whatever it meant signalled the Jet Blast Deflectors (JBDs) to rise out of the ground. They were simply large slab of steel that is raised behind the Fighters. This stopped the jets from roasting anyone who walks behind it during takeoff. The Learjet did not require one, as its engines were higher than the Super Hornets and therefore safer.

All the lights changed to amber and the flight crew ran from the jets and behind the JBDs. Once everyone was clear, the pilots opened up the throttle. The roar of the engines tore through the hanger. Suddenly, the lights turned green and the catapults launched forward, sending the jet fighters into the blue sky.

The JBDs lowered and the crew went about resetting the catapult shuttles.

Once all the Hornets were out of sight, the Flight marshal came over the radio, "Jet-36, you are clear for takeoff"

The takeoff procedure for the private jet was slightly different. There was no need for a JBD, so the pilot just gradually increased power to both engines, and the jet slowly started moving forward on the shuttle.

Suddenly, the catapult kicked in and the jet was launched into the sky.

* * *

Biyomon watched as the smoke finally cleared, revealing a small digiegg. 

The bird sighed in relief, 'Well at least we can bring him back'. She walked over and picked up the egg. Holding it in her wings, she whispered, "Thank you"

There heard a clicking noise as the riflemen loaded their weapons for a second shot. Biyomon just held the digiegg tightly and closed her eyes, "Is this…the end?"

"Terra Destroyer!"

"Hand of Fate!"

The riflemen were thrown to the side as two attacks came down a corridor beside them. Blackwargreymon and Angemon appeared, followed by Patrick, Tai and TK. The two digimon fought the rest of the riflemen hoard as their partners came over to the pink rookie.

Tai stopped when he saw the egg, "Is…that…"

Biyomon nodded, "He sacrificed himself for me" she handed the egg to Tai.

"I'll look after you buddy, don't you worry"

Just then, Blackwargreymon and Angemon approached the group.

"Paddy," Blackwargreymon's voice sounded strangly jumpy, "You know in those zombie movies when the corridors are literally _filled_ with the undead?"

"Patrick eyes his partner suspiciously, "Yes…"

"Replace them with riflemen…"

"…and you wouldn't even be close" Angemon finished.

TK looked down the corridor, "What are you two talking about"

"We think everyone who can carry a gun in this entire building is down there," The mega said.

"And they are _not_ glad to see us" The champion added.

Everyone stared down the corridor. They could all just hear the stampede of people getting closer and closer.

"That's why they weren't really trying to defeat us to begin with," Biyomon said, "It was a distraction so they could get all their troops togethers, and then just sweep through the building"

"I've had enough of this," Patrick took out his D3, "You guys get back to the portal room. Remember about the claymores"

"And then what? Wait for you to get yourself killed?" Tai yelled.

"No. You're going home"

"What?" They all said together.

Patrick's crest was starting to glow softly, "I work best…alone. Without having to look out for others. I know it might sound selfish - but it's true"

"But we can win if we work in a team!" Tai started.

"NO! YOU'RE GOING THROUGH THAT PORTAL AND YOU'RE GONNA TAKE EMMA TO A HOSPITAL!" Patrick shouted as loud as he could.

"So that's what it is then," TK sighed, "It's all about Emma"

"Please," Patrick's voice was getting quite emotional, "She and Declan are all I have in this world. I can't go on without her. You have to keep them safe"

"But what about Kari?" Tai asked softly.

Patrick grabbed his crest; "I promise you, I'll get her home. Even if I have to tear this place to the ground" Suddenly his crest exploded, engulfing him and Blackwargreymon.

"Biomerge to Warmarinedramon!"

Angemon reverted to Patamon and landed on TK's head. Everyone except Tai ran down the corridor.

Tai looked up at the human/digimon hybrid, "How can I trust you?"

Warmarinedramon stared into the boy's eyes, "I have _never_ broken a promise" the Patrick voice said. He smiled, "And besides, you don't have a choice in the matter" the Wargreymon voice added.

Tai also smiled, "Then I promise to get Emma back to full strength. That way, we'll be even"

"Deal"

"Now go kick some ass!"

The digimon turned and ran down the corridor, "Thought you'd never ask"

"Tai! Come on!" Biyomon yelled at the boy.

He finally snapped out of his trance and ran back towards the others, clutching his digiegg tight against his chest.


	19. Warmarinedramon Kicks Some Ass

_CQC stands for 'Close Quarters Combat'_

_A cookie to whoever correctly identifies where I got it from._

_BTW, Haichi - You must feel that your constant pleas for better punctuation are falling on deaf ears. Your wrong. Just so you know, I missed out on an A in my last English exam because of bad punctuation. I'm not very good at it._

_Anyway, moving on to the best chapter title **ever**:__  
_

Chapter 17 – Warmarinedramon Kicks Some Ass

The flood of troops charged down the corridors, towards their target.

A mega Wargreymon and a rookie Biyomon.

Their orders were clear – eliminate these two threats, and then move onto the portal room, where the rest of the intruders were.

However, their rampage was stopped cold when a humanoid digimon walked into the corridor. The front row raised their M4/M203's and were about to fire when they realised it wasn't a Wargreymon.

It was a Warmarinedramon.

"You're not going anywhere! I won't let you!" the digimon shouted.

"I doubt it. ATTACK!" the lead rifleman ordered his troops.

Warmarinedramon braced for attack, "So be it"

The front row opened up with their M4's and pelted the digimon…to no affect. The bullets simply bounced off the digizoid armour plating.

Warmarinedramon smiled, "My turn"

He raised his right arm into the air. It was suddenly engulfed in a blue flame. He levelled his arm with the lead rifleman.

"Plasma Strike!"

The large flame burst forward and struck the enemy in the chest. He screamed in pain as the plasma burned through his armour and into his flesh.

He fell to the ground in agony. The rest of the army watched their leader fall.

"CHARGE!" Someone shouted, causing the group to leap forward.

"You up for some CQC?" The Patrick part asked.

"You betcha!" The Blackwargreymon part answered.

The first rifleman tried to slam the butt of his gun into Warmarinedramon's face, but the digimon was ready.

"Lightning Combat" He said calmly, before reaching for the rifleman.

In about a second, five more riflemen were on the floor.

* * *

Tai and the others reached the smoke filled corridor. This was their warning. Hidden in the smoke sat about ten M18 Claymore directional fragmentation mines. Before they had left to find Kari, Patrick had thrown a few smoke grenades into the danger zone. It was difficult to find any other way to hide the boxes in the blank corridors. They were designed for outdoor use, but they did their job just as well indoor. They killed just the same. 

They were simply 8x1x3 inch steel boxes packed with C4 plastic explosive. One side was covered in about 7000 tiny metal pellets. When triggered, either by remote or trip-wire, the C4 detonates, sending the spheres into anyone unlucky enough to be in its way. Death is almost instantaneous from anywhere between point-blank and 50 metres. Serious injury from 50 to 150.

Patrick loves the fact that the side with the pellets is labelled 'FRONT - Towards Enemy'.

"Sooo…how do we get back through?" Tai asked.

"I'll have a little fly over and see what's going on" Biyomon flew into the smoke.

* * *

Warmarinedramon's 'Lightning Combat' attack had sped him up to such a speed, that you'd have to slow the scene down to witness the attack. 

After he had engaged the rifleman, the digimon had brought his left arm around his enemy's neck and snapped his head back with a sharp jab from his right hand.

Next, still holding onto the dead rifleman, he vaulted into the air and wrapped his legs around another rifleman's neck. In a single movement, the spinal cord was severed.

To finish off, Warmarinedramon kicked the dead body into another rifleman behind him, and then with his feet firmly back on the ground, he threw the body in his arms into the crowd, knocking two more to the ground.

It took less than two seconds.

The crowd stood in total astonishment. Warmarinedramon stood ready to fight, "Plenty more where that came from!"

The crowd knew what to do. They all attacked the digimon at once, completely overwhelming him.

Warmarinedramon disappeared beneath a pile of riflemen.

* * *

"Hey Biyomon, do that again" Tai asked. 

"What?"

"That exactly. Hover beside the wall"

Biyomon hovered over to the left wall. The smoke swirled around her.

"Do you see what I see?" Tai directed at TK.

"Yeah…that'll work!" he answered.

* * *

Warmarinedramon threw the pile of riflemen on top of him away. About a quarter of the rifleman hoard was thrown backwards. Down, but not out. Not just yet. 

"We have to buy them more time," The Patrick side muttered.

"Then we can find Kari" The digimon side replied.

The digimon charged the swarm and started beating away.

* * *

Sora swung around when she heard Biyomon's voice. Tai, TK, Biyomon and Patamon entered the room, looking very proud of themselves. 

"I can't believe that actually worked!" TK said.

"What worked? How did you get past the minefield? And where's Patrick?" Declan asked.

"Gee, what's with the 100 questions?" Tai said, "Anyway, we got past the minefield when we realised that Biyomon blew the smoke beneath her away when she hovered. We were able to walk straight past the mines when she flew beside the wall"

"And answer your last question, Warmarinedramon is currently buying us enough time for our escape" TK added.

"Look, your not being very clear," Yolei said impatiently, "Buying time from what? Escape to where?"

"Ok, here's the situation," Tai explained, "Every rifleman in this building is down by the prison complex. Patrick told us that he would hold them back until we could escape"

"What do you mean 'escape'?" Yolei raised her voice.

"Yolei," TK asked, "Can you boot up the portal?" he pointed at the large platform in the back of the room.

"But of cou…" She started to go into show-off mode when she realised, "…hey! We can't go home now! Not without Kari!"

"I'm leaving Kari in Patrick's hands" Tai said.

"You're what?" Everyone said in unison.

"Look, just go with me on this one. Please" Tai said.

Yolei just stared at Tai, "Ok" she finally said, and started typing.

"Everyone else – get ready to leave this joint"

* * *

Warmarinedramon was losing…badly. 

He couldn't hold back the immense force of hundreds of riflemen. He had been pushed back so far, he was sure he'd end up in the courtyard soon. In fact, he could almost feel the cool air on his battered and bruised back.

"Lightning Combat!"

He charged a rifleman and lifted him into the air. Spinning around, he flung him into the crowd, before falling to the ground to spin his leg under the few riflemen still standing, tripping them up.

"Plasma Strike!" The blue flame scorched through the enemies, killing them instantly.

'Just a bit longer' Patrick thought.

* * *

The group heard the familiar hum of the portal warming up, then the crack of electricity create the large, white disc. 

"All aboard!" Tai said as Declan helped Yolei thought the portal.

"Sora, take this" Tai handed the digiegg to the girl.

"Is…that Agumon? What happened?"

"He used all his energy protecting Biyomon. You should be grateful"

Sora smiled, "I am. Defiantly"

She accepted the egg, and then along with Biyomon, Penguinmon and Hawkmon dived into the portal.

Tai, TK and Patamon were the only ones left to go.

He approached the limp body of Emma, "Come on you, lets get you some help. TK, help me out here"

They tried desperately to ignore the explosions they could hear in the courtyard only a few meters away.

One thing they all failed to notice, was that Sora had forgoten something.

Her rucksack.

* * *

Warmarinedramon was truly exhausted. 

He was too weak to do a throw them away if they tried their 'Pile up!' tactic again. He could barely pull off another Plasma Strike or Lightning Combat. Hell, those were his only attacks! Apart from…wait…that might work. But not until they're away. Then he'd pull that off. Until then he could only fight with his bare hands.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, the riflemen stopped attacking. Instead they all raised their rifles and fired their M203s.

Warmarinedramon could handle a grenade or two, but not this many! The 40mm grenades all slammed into the digimon and threw him backwards into a wall…and straight through it.

Tai and TK were just about to lift Emma through the portal when the back wall exploded. Warmarinedramon was flung into the room. He landed just behind the glowing portal.

"I…couldn't…hold them," he said in a hoarse voice.

Riflemen started pouring through the hole in the wall, firing at the two on the platform. Warmarinedramon could only watch as TK took a bullet to the arm and scream in agony.

"TK!" Tai shouted.

"I'm fine, just keep going." TK yelled over the gunfire.

Tai looked down on the fallen digimon, "Yolei found Kari, she's been taken away by plane." he shouted before jumping into the disc.

The portal started to warp and fizzle, before shrinking out of existence.

A rifleman walked over to Warmarinedramon, "Looks like you were able to save your friends." he said in a strong American accent, "But can you save yourself?"

Almost on que, the remaining riflemen opened up on the portal equiptment. Patrick and Blackwargreymon could only watch in horror as their only way home was destroyed.

* * *

The flight marshal watched the radar screen as the blips representing the F/A-18Fs and the Learjet faded into the distance. 

"Ready?" The older one stood up.

"More than I'll ever be." he said before getting up and leaving the command center.

* * *

"Looks like your stuck here." the rifleman started laughing. 

"Actually…you just signed your own death warrant," the digimon said.

The rifleman pointed his M4 at the fallen digimon's head, "What you talking about?"

Warmarinedramon smiled as his body started to glow, "You gave me another excuse to use my final attack."

The riflemen just stood in shock as the brightness took over his entire body.

"Terra Explosion!"

* * *

Kari watched the castle disappear into the horizon. Just then, a huge cloud of dust and smoke exploded out the top, soaring into the sky. It took a few seconds for the 'BOOM!' hit them. 

"What the…"

The robed man looked out another window, "Hmmm…seems your friends are causing some havoc."

Kari was transfixed with the smoke cloud.

"You don't seem surprised. You're not in the least bit shocked that you brother has followed you across space and time to save you?"

Kari looked into the man's eyes, "No. Not at all."

* * *

The two Flight Marshals were in the Prep room, suiting up in their flight gear. Suddenly, a huge explosion rocked the building. 

"What the hell was that?" the older one asked.

"Warmarinedramon." the younger answered.

The older Flight Marshal was shocked, "He's here?"

"Of course."

"We should go help him."

"Are…we allowed too?"

"I think we already did, so it's safe."

"Good enough for me. Lets go."

They picked up a M8 each and marched out the door.


	20. Leave no man or Cat behind

_FYI, the original name of this chapter was 'Leave no man behind...or cat'_

_But it doesn't allow dots so it came out as 'Leave no man behindor cat'_

_Grrrr...had to export and change the chapter name...grrr...ah well_

_Anyways, thanks Haichi, that helped alot. Lets see if it paid off.  
_

_BTW, mike, what were apologizing about?  
_  
Chapter 18 – Leave no man or Cat behind  


"Wow…" The younger Flight Marshal was amazed. The portal room had been completely obliterated. In fact, it was better to say that the courtyard had been extended.

Unknown to them, deep beneath the rubble lay the crushed body of Patrick O'Reilly. Also in the rubble, a digivice started to glow and vibrate…but it wasn't Patrick's grey D3.

It was someone else's…a pink D3.

Part of the rubble started to shake. The two men pointed their rifles at the shaking stone.

Suddenly, the rubble was thrust aside by a huge beam of light, and a few seconds later a boy climbed out from under it. He had a Koromon in his arms. When he saw the two rifles pointing at him he said, "Hey guys…what's shaking?"

This threw the flight marshals completely off guard, "Are you…ok?" The boy seemed quite dazed, almost drunken. He also seemed to be glowing slightly.

"Of course. I've just been BURIED ALIVE for the last FIVETEEN MINUTES," he grinned, "Yeah, I'll live…just about."

The two men lowered their rifles, "Good, then lets get you cleaned up…"

He reached over and put an arm around him since he seemed pretty unsteady.

"…Paddy."

Patrick passed out before he realised the man knew his name.

But none of them noticed that the beam of light had struck something else.

Sora's rucksack.

* * *

"So where _are_ we going?" Kari asked. 

"An air force base out in the desert," he smiled, "I doubt your friends will find us there – that is of course, if they're still alive. The digital desert is vast and barren."

The robed man stood up and walked into the back compartment of the fuselage, "Now if you'd excuse me, I've some planning to do."

Kari watched the last bodyguard lock the door behind her. She relaxed…well, as much as she could strapped to a chair in a plane going to an enemy air force base.

The girl took a moment to reflect on what the man on the wall monitor had told her.

The man who claimed to be TK.

* * *

**Earlier:**

"Kari? Is that really you?" The man seemed shocked to see her.

The girl just remained silent. She was far too tired to start asking the obvious questions.

"It's been so long since I saw you last. Even in a picture."

"How do you know me?"

"I was afraid you'd ask that. You see, the world has changed a great deal in the past ten or so years."

'Ten years?' Kari thought.

"Look, I don't have much time, I'd just like you to know that Matt and I are coming to save you. Kay?"

Kari just nodded, and the screen went black.

"The future…"

* * *

Patrick opened his eyes and looked around him. He was in a white room with consoles lining the walls. Koromon jumped onto his chest, "You're awake!" 

Patrick tried to lift himself up, but found it too painful, "Where are we…what happened?"

"When we used our Terra Explosion, we killed all the riflemen, but the roof caved in and we were buried."

"Then…how did we survive?"

"That's the thing," another voice said, "We have no idea how you're still alive."

The boy painfully turned his neck to one side. Sitting at one of the consoles was a blue haired man in a white lab coat, typing away. He stood up and walked over too him. Patrick noted he was wearing glasses, "How _are_ you feeling anyway."

"Stiff, painful and tired," the teenager grinned, "The usual."

"If this is the usual, I don't want to even imagine what crippled is," the man picked up a clipboard and flipped through a few pages, "Twenty-three fractures, severe muscle damage, internal bleeding, you had it all."

He set the clipboard down, "I have never in all my years seen a more beat up man survive - and trust me, I've seen it all!"

"Then how am I still here?"

"You healed. Yep, you somehow took an hour to recover from something that would be terminal to anyone else."

"An hour?" Something finally struck Patrick, "Were are those two guys…and how did they know my name?"

"Don't worry, we're friendly," the two flight marshals walked in, "Joe here has been looking after you."

"Joe…hey, you're friends with Tai aren't you? By the way, you two didn't answer my question."

"Firstly, yeah, I know Tai well, but he joined the resistance, along with Izzy, Yolei and a load of other international digidestined"

"Secondly, you already know us," The younger flight marshal pointed out, "Well, me anyway."

"Don't be offended…but I don't."

"Ok then, I won't keep you in suspense," he thumbed the older man beside him, "I'm TK and this is my brother, Matt."

Patrick processed this for a second, "So…Cody was right…this is the future"

"You met Cody?"

"Yeah, while we were in the woods. By the way, where _is_ the wee bastard? I have a magazine with his name on it."

"Cody…well…he's…"

"A spy." the older flight marshal said bluntly.

"In a word, yes. He's officially part of the Dark Forces, but he fights among the resistance, finding information and transmitting it to this complex."

"So technically, Cody is working for both the Resistance and the Dark Forces."

"Yeah, but trust me, NEVER listen to anything he says. Ninety-nine per cent of it is lies," Joe walked back to his console, "Anyway, I'd say at this current rate of healing you sound be up and about in no time…say, half an hour"

Matt nodded, "That should give us enough time to make our plans. That reminds me - Patrick, you still know how to fly?"

"Of course, wh…hey, what do you mean by 'still'?"

"Well, this is the future isn't it? We already know about your self-training"

Patrick nodded, "Sure, I'll fly anything that's was in service around 2005"

"Good, come down to the flight prep room beside the hanger when your ready. We've given you clearance to go just about anywhere, so the guards shouldn't bother you. Just try not to look _too_ suspicious, kay?" the two men walked out.

When they were well away from the medical room, TK asked, "Why can't we tell him the truth? About what's going on in their Digital World?"

Matt shook his head, "No, that would cause a _huge_ time paradox. It's better if we left him alone."

TK shrugged, "You're the boss"

* * *

When the beam of light hit the buried rucksack, it started to rumble and move. Suddenly, when the other three were gone, it exploded upwards and out of the rubble. 

When the dust settled, a digimon was left lying on the ground.

Gatomon.

* * *

Kari slowly started to drift of to sleep. The last thing she heard was the pilot announcing over the intercom, "Flight path set, Autopilot programmed and engaged. ETA, one hour."

* * *

**30 minutes later**

Patrick limped into the flight prep room, Koromon in his arms. TK and Matt were standing beside a table with a map of the digital world spread across it.

"Hey Paddy, still alive?" Matt asked.

"I'll live. So what's the plan?"

TK pointed out two markers on the map. One was labelled 'PCX-14' and the other was labelled 'MAB-21'.

"PCX-14 is us. MAB-21 is where they're taking Kari." TK said.

"How do you know where they're going?" Patrick asked.

"We're this base's flight marshals – I'm in charge of landings and TK's head of take-offs." Matt explained.

TK nodded, "There isn't a flight in this airspace that I don't know about."

"And nobody's allowed to land without my go ahead" Matt finished.

"So that's why you were able to give me clearance. Cool. Now how about that plan…"

* * *

"ETA, twenty-five minutes." The pilot announced on sleeping ears.

* * *

"Your forgetting one thing," Patrick said after the two flight marshals had finished their plan, "The portal was destroyed. How are we going to get home?" 

"I don't know," Matt shrugged, "But I know someone who can help."

"Who?"

"You'll find out when you get there. As for now, to the armoury!"

A smile crept across Patrick's face, "Now your talkin'!"

* * *

Gatomon lifted herself up and shook her feline head, "What just happened?" 

The digimon looked around. The last thing she remembered was being Salamon in Sora's rucksack while they looked for Kari, then she fell asleep. Next thing she knew, she was by this huge pile of rubble as Gatomon.

"I…digivolved…" she smiled, "That must mean they found Kari! But where are they now?"

Just then, her ears pricked up. Someone was coming!

Instinctively, Gatomon jumped behind a large slab of concrete as two riflemen walked by. They were talking.

"What the fuck!" the first one said, "I knew I heard an explosion, but what happened!"

"That was the portal room, wasn't it?" The second explained, "It probably overloaded when someone tried to use it again. That would be the one…two…_third_ time this month!"

Gatomon gasped, 'It must have exploded when they tried to go home!'

"It's the first of May."

"Ok, smartass, last month then," the second set off down the corridor, then lowered his voice almost to the point that the digimon couldn't hear it, "Hey, I heard those two marshals are gonna start a revolt by attacking that desert air base. Wanna help?"

"Yeah that would be fun!" The first one nodded, "They're probably in the prep room now, lets go!"

The two riflemen started running down the corridor. Gatomon came out of hiding, "So…they're all dead," she muttered, "I don't believe it! I wasn't there to help"

Sighing, she set off down the corridor the riflemen went down, "Guess the only thing I'll be good for now is help with revolt. Maybe there were some survivers!"

She started running, making sure she was right behind the two riflemen.

* * *

"Here you go," Matt threw an M8 at Patrick, "We only have a few of them. The rest of the armoury is dedicated to M4's." 

Patrick set the rifle back on the table, "Never used this before. Got anything German?"

TK grinned, "I thought you'd say that, here." He set a familiar weapon in front of him.

"That's better. German quality." Patrick picked up the G36C, a smaller, more compact version of the G36K.

"Gimme all the ammo you got for this baby." Patrick demanded.

"Which isn't much," Matt scanned through a box of loaded magazines, "About ten mags."

"Plenty. I'm about all accuracy."

"Right…is that why you love mowing people down with the M249?"

Patrick looked suspiciously, "How did you know that?"

"You were the one that wrecked the hanger-to-dock blast door, correct?"

"Oh yeah…forgot about that."

"We were watching you on CCTV."

"Right, well, to the hanger then." TK said as they all marched out the door.

* * *

Gatomon looked around the empty prep room. 

"I'm too late," she sighed, "Looks like it's not my day today."

The two riflemen she had been tailing had been stopped by an offical looking man, and were sent to do something. Thankfully, they were close enough to the hanger for Gatomon to smell the jet fuel. It lead her straight to the prep room.

However, no one was here.

Just then, she heard chatter out in the hanger, which sounded a lot like…Patrick?

The digimon jumped onto the table and looked out the window into the hanger, and smiled.

Maybe it's not so bad after all…

* * *

Patrick threw Koromon into the Co-pilot's seat of the helicopter. He was about to climb in when he heard a voice behind him, "Can _I_ Help?" 

Patrick looked around and grinned, "Sure thing. Hop on in there"

Gatomon jumped into the Co-pilot seat and landed on top of Koromon.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask the same thing. How are you going to help, you don't even have arms!"

"Easy now back there," Patrick said as he fastened his helmet on, "We're all in this together."

"Patrick, you have some explaining to do! Where are the others?"

"No time. I'll tell you on the way."

The teenager pilot flipped a switch and the rotors on the mighty AH-64 Apache Longbow Assault Chopper started to spin.

* * *

Kari was woken when the robed man came out of his room and sat back down, "I believe we are almost there" 

Almost on cue, the pilot anounced, "Communication with air traffic control established. Now landing at Motomiya Air Base..."


	21. Saving Private Kari Part 1

_FYI, M8's aren't in service yet – I got them from Ghost Recon 2._

_IFF stands for 'Identification, friend or foe'. It is a transmitter placed in military vehicles that allows radar operators to know if they are friendly or enemy._

_So if you were flying into a friendly air base, your radar signature would have your ID number._

_But if you were flying over an enemy air base, your radar signature wouldn't have the ID number, and would be automatically designated as enemy._

_End of lecture. Back to mindless shooting._

Chapter 19 – Saving Private Kari (Part 1)

The Super Hornets circled in the sky like vultures as the Learjet touched down at the desert air base. When it came to a complete stop, one of the bodyguards opened the door/stairs combo and allowed the robed man to step down. He saw a Humvee jeep speed towards them.

The Humvee stopped right in front of the plane, and the passenger door opened. A man in officer uniform stepped out, his brown hair rustling in the breeze.

"Davis! How's it goin'?"

"Not too bad. So where's this 'prisoner' I've to baby-sit for ya?"

Two of the bodyguards dragged and dumped Kari between the two men.

"Kari?"

The girl looked up, "Davis?"

Davis looked slightly angry, "I thought you said you weren't going to attack my school?"

"I didn't. My forces found her in a high school in Ireland. Apparently the digidestined there was able to alert the others before capture."

The officer shook his head, "Master ain't gonna be happy 'bout that."

"Screw him. Anyway, some them followed her through the portal. They attacked my base and it suffered major damage. We also lost the Shiloh."

"…Michael…" Davis looked angrily at the man, "Who and how?"

"We believe it was Aquilamon and Yolei. She did Patrick's famous 'Return to Sender' move."

Davis cringed, "Ow…wait, how'd she learn one of Patrick's tactics?"

"Well he's here, obviously," the robed man explained, "He spearheaded the assault, killed hundreds as Warmarinedramon."

Then it hit Davis, "Of course…it was _Paddy's_ school in Ireland you attacked. It makes sense now."

"Took long enough."

"So…I'm guessing he's distracted back at PCX-14?"

"Yea…"

Before he could finish his sentence, the air traffic control tower exploded from a missile strike. The wind started to pick up as an Apache loomed over the base.

"Oh…there he is!" Davis shouted over the thunder of the rotor blades.

* * *

"Oh yeah! How'd ya like that little number?" Patrick yelled as the tower burst into flames.

He could see a large mass of troops gathering by the base, "Levelling time!" he said as he flicked all the weapons switches on, arming everything he had. Hellfire missiles, Vulcan chain guns, Hydra rocket pods, the works. Usually, the co-pilot would do this, but he didn't have one.

In fact the rear set was completely empty.

"Hey, bastards! Knock knock!" he jammed down the trigger sending out a wave of destruction.

* * *

"Get those Hornets to attack!" Davis shouted, pointing at the AH-64 that was currently levelling the air base with everything it had.

The robed man nodded to the male bodyguard, who nodded back before taking out his radio.

"Meteor Squadron, assault enemy helicopter." Kari noticed a strangely familiar Russian accent.

"Rodger, Meteor 2, engaging."

"Meteor 3, engaging."

"Meteor 4, engaging."

"Meteor 1, squadron, engag…" before the leader could finish a missile appeared out of nowhere, blowing him out of the sky.

However, they didn't need to attack the Apache anymore.

The attack chopper was already critically damaged and out of control.

* * *

Patrick watched as the entire base crumbled against his assault. Matt had told him that this side of the base had little AA defences, but his friendly IFF prevented an automated counter-attack.

An alert sounded as three Super Hornets locked onto him. Suddenly something burst out of a hanger, very close to the attack chopper.

"Desperado Blaster!"

The hail of projectiles ripped the tail on the Apache clean off. Patrick suddenly found himself rapidly loosing control of his aircraft.

It went into a tailspin, and started descending.

"Mayday! Mayday! Matt, TK! I'm hit! Loosing altitude!" The teenager quickly said as the chopper plunged towards the ground.

"Don't worry…I'll…care…of…Hornets…get Kari!" Matt started to break up as the radio system failed.

The AH-64 crashed into the runway rear first.

* * *

Paildramon touched down beside the flaming Apache as the pilot scrambled to escape.

"Now we got you, Desperado…"

"Dark Shot!"

The large missile hit the Digimon right in the back, knocking him over.

Skullgreymon charged over and stepped on Paildramon, pinning him down.

* * *

The three F/A-18F's that had originally gone for Patrick, watched as their leader exploded.

He never had time to eject.

"Where'd that come from, Meteor 3? Nothings coming up on radar!"

"No idea. How 'bout you Meteor 4?"

"It must have come from somewhere…"

Those were his last words as he was taken out by an F-22 Raptor, piloted by Matt.

* * *

A bullet whizzed past the Davis' head. He spun around to see the figure of Patrick, with the burning Apache and the 'Skullgreymon vs Paildramon' battle in the background.

Only one word came to the man's mind.

Shit.

"Take him out!" The robed man ordered his bodyguards. All three raised their M8 Sharpshooters and started firing at Patrick, who was about 50 metres away.

A bullet skimmed the side of his body armour.

'Close' he thought.

Then one hit him right in the chest. Thankfully, the Kevlar stopped it cold.

'TOO close - Won't be able to take another like tha…'

He took three more rounds to the chest and was flung to the ground.

"PATRICK!" Kari yelled.

Suddenly the ground around two of the bodyguards were torn up by Gatling fire, as the F-22 did a flyby. All but one was shreaded.

Davis grabbed his radio, "Weapons control! Take out that Raptor already! What's your problem?"

"Sir," the man on the other side responded, "IFF has it flagged as a friendly, sir."

"What! Crap, they must have taken one of mine," the robed man cursed angrily, "Override the IFF! Blow him out of the sky!"

"You heard the man," Davis shouted into the receiver, "Get with the overriding!"

"Sir yes sir!"

A few seconds later a Stinger site out on the runway turned to face the rogue F-22. Locking onto its heat signature, it fired three missiles.

* * *

"Missile alert. Missile alert." It felt like the computerised voice had alerted Matt a thousand times.

"I get the idea nice computer lady, now SHUT THE FUCK UP! Your not helping!"

Matt barrel rolled right, narrowly missing the first missile. According to his radar, they were right behind him. It also told him that they were not radar guided.

"Well that makes it a bit easier." Matt hit the countermeasures switch, dumping in the region of twenty flares.

One missile was distracted by this new 'threat' and exploded, causing it's neighbour to career off course and smash into the desert.

"Hoo-ya!" The pilot cheered.

But there was still one missile at large.

"Patrick, I've been engaged by enemy SAMs. They figured out the IFF thing," the man yelled frantically into his headset, "Patrick? Patrick!"

* * *

Tai landed on the hard floor of the gym. Looking around, he saw that everyone was lying down and resting. It was just getting bright outside…wait a second.

"We made it…but we were away for about a day, right? Then why has it only been like five minutes?" Tai asked.

Yolei put her hand up, "That would be my handywork. I programmed the portal to take us back to about fifteen minutes after we left, so nobody will suspect a thing."

"TK, you're hit!" Sora said as she walked over to the boy. He was clutching his left arm.

"I'll live, now let's get Emma some help."

"Yeah, that…well...you see, I was thinking if we take her to a hospital they'll get suspicious that she just randomly got all these severe injuries."

"So what, we just leave her?" Tai yelled.

"What can we do?" Declan said, "We'd probably get arrested for attacking her or something."

"I hate to admit it…but they're right." TK said to Tai.

"Yeah, unless you know a doctor or something…" Declan started.

Sora gasped, "Of course!" she took out her D-Terminal.

"What? Do you know a doctor?" Declan asked only half jokily.

"Nope, but I know the next best thing!"

Tai walked over and looked over Sora's shoulder at the device.

"Joe…of course...why didn't I think of that!"

"Right lets get back through the digiport and bring Emma to him!"

* * *

Patrick slowly opened his eyes. Matt was yelling at him through the headset.

"Come on man, wake up!"

The boy couldn't feel any penetrations, had the armour stopped that barrage too?

"Matt, what the hell are these flak jackets made of? It's defiantly not Kevlar!"

"Thank God your alive. I thought I'd lost you," Patrick could just hear the man's sighs of relief over a sudden computerised voice saying 'Missile alert. Missile Alert. Missile…' "OH, FUCK OFF!"

Patrick heard Matt hit something before the voice stopped, "Anyway, yeah, they're a Kevlar-Digizoid compound. Light but nearly indestructible. Their only problem is they concentrate the force of the impact, which is probably why you were knocked down and blacked out for a second or two."

"Well, I guess it just saved my life." Patrick jumped up and levelled his G36C with the lone bodyguard.

"Davis," the robed man said as he ran for the plane, "We're getting the hell outta here. You have permission to begin Operation Last Stand," grabbing Kari, he signalled to the pilot to start up the engines.

Turning to signal the final bodyguard, two shots rang off, flinging the bodyguard to the ground. Unflinching, he turned and ran into the plane, throwing Kari in, closing and locking the door. Bullets rang off the fuselage as the Learjet positioned itself down the runway.

Patrick ran after the jet, pummelling rounds into it, to no effect. It eventually picked up speed and took off.

"Crap!" He turned around and was met by Davis' fist. The force of the punch made the teenager drop his rifle.

Davis grabbed Patrick and head butted him, hard. Patrick's world went black for a while before he fell to the ground. Regaining focus, he felt the man press a gun up to his head. Instinctively, the teenager swiped the M9 out of Davis' hand.

In one movement, Patrick spun around on the floor, tripping the man up in the process, and was once again on his feet.

Now they were even.

* * *

Kari sat back in her seat. The man didn't even bother strapping her in, he just went into the cockpit as the plane accelerated into the sky and closed the door behind him.

She sighed, and muttered, "They _still_ weren't able to save me."

Suddenly, Kari heard something fall out of an overhead locker. The girl swung round and was completely taken aback by what she saw.

It was Gatomon.

"Gatomon!" she got up and ran over to her partner.

"Kari, am I glad to see you! We need to get outta here!"

"But how?"

The cat grinned, "Patrick gave me a few things…"

Gatomon reached behind her and produced two objects.

One was a High Explosive grenade, and the other was Kari's D3.


	22. Saving Private Kari Part 2

_FYI, the word 'black' comes up 12 times in this chapter. The main uses being BLACKagumon and BLACKhawk._

_I checked that after I noticed that one paragraph in particular has about four uses._

_Hmmm...anyway:_  


Chapter 20 – Saving Private Kari (Part 2)

Matt was in trouble.

He had about six missiles after him and was out of flares.

Checking his fuel, he had enough for about an hour of super cruise _(Flying supersonic without the help of an afterburner)_ but he was gulping this up in his afterburner that he needs to constantly evade these missiles.

'Ah, to hell with it' he thought.

"TK," he announced into his radio, "I'm gonna ditch into the base. Pick me up later, over."

"Sure thing. Good luck, over and out."

Matt steered the F22 Raptor towards the base and locked it in his sights. He looked over his shoulder and grabbed his M8. He could see a missile coming up behind him.

"Hey, wanna play follow the leader?" He said to thin air, "Follow this!"

He jammed the afterburner on, accelerating the Fighter towards the sound barrier.

"Here we go!" He hit a switch, blowing the canopy off. Then he pulled the ejector pin that was over his shoulder and was launched into the sky.

The Raptor continued its course into the base and exploded, creating a huge hole in the roof. A few seconds later, six stinger missiles locked onto the heat signature of the flames and slammed into the base, blowing what was left of it after the Apache attack into the sky.

Meanwhile, two battles raged on simultaneously…

* * *

"Dark Shot!" 

"Desperado Blaster!"

The two attacks hit midway and exploded spectacularly. The two ultimates fought as hard as their partners, who were also locked in combat nearby.

Davis kneed Patrick in the stomach, and then threw him backwards. The teenager tried to get up, but the man stood on his neck.

"Ahhhh…get…off…me…" Patrick gasped.

"Not a chance!"

Skullgreymon turned to see his partner in trouble. He roared, then charged over, only to be stopped by Paildramon.

"Skull…greymon," Patrick grabbed his digivice, "Take it…to the next level!"

Paildramon was jumped back as Skullgreymon started glowing black.

"Skullgreymon mega digivolve to Blackwargreymon"

The mega landed beside Patrick and wasted no time kicking Davis off him.

"You ok?"

Patrick got up, "Yeah, but that guy got away with Kari. I'm not sure if Gatomon got in or not."

"Blackwargreymon!" Davis jumped up, D3 in hand, "Well this is déjà vu! Paildramon, mega digivolve!"

"Sure thing."

"Paildramon mega digivolve to…Paildramon?"

Davis looked in horror, "What's wrong? I need Imperialdramon!"

"We can't. Not without Ken."

The man looked out towards the plane flying off into the distance, "You picked one hell of a time to leave." By the time Davis had realised his mistake, Patrick found his G36C and was aiming at the Davis.

"Game over. Give it up." He said.

"Never!" He switched on his radio and shouted, "Initiate Operation Last Stand…AHHH"

He screamed in pain as two bullets took off his knees.

"Davis!" Paildramon charged towards Patrick, but was intercepted by Blackwargreymon, who jumped onto his back, knocking him to the ground and causing him to immediately dedigivolve back to Veemon and Wormmon.

"Ow, that hurt…" Wormmon moaned.

"Come on Davis, get up." Veemon was trying desperately to get his fallen friend up.

"I…can't. I'm done for. Go while you still can!"

"No, not yet. You've gone through worse than this!"

"I doubt he's ever got his knees done in before," Patrick said as he approached to two, "Now to finish the job."

Veemon stood between the two, "You want him, and you'll have to go through me!" he stared into the teenager's eyes.

Patrick stared back for a few seconds, then said, "So be it." Before nailing a two round burst into the digimon.

Veemon disintegrated into data before he hit the ground.

* * *

"Sir! We're losing cabin pressure!" The co-pilot shouted just after he had put the new flight data into the computer. 

"What!" Ken spun round and opened the door into the main cabin. There was a swirl of air as he noticed that the door was open. Kari was standing by it.

"Are you crazy? Don't jump!" The robed man shouted.

The girl turned around, and said "Goodbye" before jumping out.

Ken ran to the door, "You suicidal…" he was cut off as Angewomon appeared in front of him.

"Here you go," She handed him an object before flying off with Kari.

The man was in complete shock. But by the time he looked at the object he hand been handed, it was too late.

The HE grenade went off, blowing the fuselage in half. Then the fuel ignited, obliterating the entire jet.

Angewomon hovered nearby, "Nothing like revenge."

"Come on, let's get back to Patrick. He might be in trouble," Kari said.

* * *

Patrick was in complete control. 

He calmly walked over to the dieing man and held his rifle to his head, "Operation Last Stand, eh? What's that?"

Davis simply smiled, "Oh, you'll find out in…say…three minutes?"

"Tell me, or I blow you head off."

"Go ahead and shoot me. I'm dead anyway. We're all dead."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Why don't you ask one of your friends? Don't worry, I ain't going anywhere soon." He motioned to his legs.

Patrick walked over to his radio headset that had been knocked off during their fight, "Matt, you there?"

No response.

"Son of a bitch," he switch the channel, "TK, respond!"

"TK here. Hows it going?"

"What's Operation Last Stand?"

The was a brief silence before the man came back on, his tone of voice changed completely, "Something bad for us. I'm getting you out of there. TK out."

"Shit, will _someone_ please have some good news?" He said as he turned his radio off.

"How about, 'I'm safe?'" A voice said behind him. The boy spun around to see Kari standing with Gatomon in her arms.

Patrick just smiled, "You wanna know something? That's the best news I've heard in days."

* * *

Underneath Motomiya air base, there is a small underground cavern. In that cavern sat a metal crate, with the words 'OP: LS – LEVEL SIX SECURITY CLEARENCE REQUIRED' printed on the side in standard military stencilling. 

In another cavern sat the Fire Control for the entire base. Being underground, it was unaffected by Patrick's aerial bombardment, allowing them to continue Anti-Air defences against Matt's Raptor.

Davis' voice came over a radio. Everyone could easily hear it in the silence.

"Initiate Operation Last Stand…AHHH…" there were gunshots, and the signal cut off.

The men in the cavern looked at each other, and then went about their work. Flicking switches, activating consoles, starting programs, etc. After about a minute, the leader walked up to the main console and took a key out of his pocket. He inserted it into a keyhole by a huge monitor and turned it. Suddenly sirens started whirring throughout the underground part of the base. Red pulsing lights accompanied it.

The top of main screen now read:

'WARNING – OPERATION LAST STAND PROTOCOL INITIATED – EVACUATION PROCEDURES ACTIVE'

And taking up the rest of the screen was a countdown timer:

1:30

1:29

1:28

1:27…

* * *

"I believe these are yours…" Patrick handed Kari her D-Terminal and camera. 

"Thank you," She set her D-Terminal in her pocket and put her Camera back around her neck.

The UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopter landed safely beside Patrick and Kari. Matt jumped out, "Come on, we don't have much time!"

"I'll take your word for it then!" Patrick yelled back over the spinning rotors, "Blackwargreymon, lets go."

The mega digimon flew to his partner's side after a clean up of the remaining SAM sites, then he dedigivolved back to Blackagumon.

They all jumped into the chopper as it quickly took off and flew back towards the castle.

Once they had levelled into a cruise position, Patrick walked into the cockpit, "So would you mind spilling the beans on this Last Stand thing?" he asked the two pilots.

"Every facility under the Dark Master's control has one. It's a final option against an invasion force."

"Final option? God, I can't _wait_ to hear this…"

* * *

Davis could only watch as the Blackhawk charged off into the distance. Veemon's sacrifice had been in vain. He would die anyway. 

"But at least I'm taking them with me."

* * *

Patrick calmly walked back into the hold and sat down in his seat, strapping himself in. He was unusually pale. 

"What's wrong?" Kari asked.

The teenager slowly moved his head to the others, "Strap yourselves in. We're in for a bumpy ride."

Kari put on her belt and Gatomon jumped onto her lap. Blackagumon secured himself beside Patrick.

* * *

The group landed safe and sound in their own, familiar computer room. No guy with rifles ready to shoot them. No battleships firing missiles at them…. 

No Patrick…

"Well that was quick. What happened?" Izzy asked before looking over at Tai, "And who's she?"

"You're not gonna believe this," Tai started, "But we've actually been away a lot longer than you think…"

* * *

"What's going on?" Kari asked. 

"If we get through this, I'll tell you. As for now, hold on tight!"

* * *

0:31 

0:30

0:29

0:28…

* * *

"How's it going youse two?" Patrick shouted into the cockpit. 

"I'd say about 30 seconds." TK yelled back.

"We're 4 kilometres out now. Just about safe. I hope."

"Good," Patrick relaxed, "We might just survive after all."

* * *

0:10 

0:09

0:08

0:07…

In the cavern next door, a whirring sound could be heard from within the crate.

The thing was, there was nobody there to hear it.

The base was in chaos.

Everyone was scrambling for any vehicle they could lay their hands on – Humvees, Jeeps, even fighter jets.

They knew something big was going to happen, and they didn't want to be here. What they didn't know was _when_…

0:03

0:02

0:01

0:00

OP: LS - DETONATE

* * *

The entire base was engulfed in light. Every living thing was vaporised. 

The base commander – Davis Motomiya – said three final words before joining his comrades.

"Game over, Paddy!"

* * *

The world around the chopper was suddenly turned white. Long shadows were cast out behind boulders scattered around the barren landscape before they were blackened on one side. 

Even through the already deafening roar of the Blackhawk's engines, the occupants could hear the colossal 'BOOM' of the explosion.

The helicopter was rocked gently, before the first blast wave hit it, throwing it around violently.

"I'm losing control!" TK shouted.

"Cut power! Go into a controlled free-fall! Try and land us safely!" Matt ordered.

Suddenly another wave hit, but this was no ordinary shockwave. Sparks exploded from all the equipment in the hold. The dashboard in the cockpit burst into flames.

"DAMN, WE WERE STILL IN RANGE!" Matt screamed.

"I CAN'T HOLD ON. WE'RE GOING DOWN!" TK answer.

The digimon started holding their ears and whining, as if there was some sort of noise the others couldn't hear that was driving them crazy.

Kari had an expression of pure terror, "Is this it?" she whispered to herself.

The Blackhawk crashed nose-first into the desert. It even had enough momentum to roll a few times before coming to a complete stop – upside down.

The fuel tanks ruptured right open, and started to trickle towards the fire in the cockpit…


	23. Crash and Burn

_You may be glad to know that this is by far the longest chapter so far - nearly 3000 words instead of an average 2000._

_Took it long enough..._

Chapter 21 – Crash and Burn

The first things Gatomon saw when she opened her eyes were flames. Flames and the strong smell of fuel…

She drowsily got herself up and scrambled away from the flames, and tripped over something.

Looking down, the digimon saw that she had tripped on a clawed foot.

"Bla…Blackagumon? Are you all right?"

Blackagumon moaned and growled as he got up, "What happen?"

"I think we crashed…"

"No shit?" He looked around and stopped, suddenly transfixed with something, "You smell that?"

Gatomon looked at where he was looking, "What? The fuel? Yeah, but wh…" it finally struck the digimon what Blackagumon was looking at.

The cockpit.

Correction, the _flaming_ cockpit.

"That can't be good. We gotta find the others and get out…what are you looking at now?"

Blackagumon was looking straight up, "Found them."

Gatomon also looked up, "You have the great ability of being _one step_ ahead of me, don't you?"

Patrick and Kari were still in their seats – except upside down. Their limp arms were dangling in mid air.

The reptile digimon walked over to the side hatch, "Lets get this open. Get some air in."

A drop of liquid suddenly fell on Gatomon's back. She swung round, but couldn't find the source, but couldn't find anything. Shrugging it off, she went back over to Blackagumon, who was tugging at the handle to no avail.

"Allow me – Lightning Paw!"

The lock broke right off and the hatch swung open.

"Great…now what?" Blackagumon asked.

"I got it!" Gatomon jumped up onto the ceiling (or floor?) and reached for Kari's buckle.

"WAIT!"

"What now?"

"Tell me, what's gonna happen when you unbuckle her?"

"Errrrr…" Gatomon jumped back down (up?) again, "Guess I never thought of that."

"We need to get this thing right-side up again," Blackagumon pointed to the upside-down Patrick, "Could you get his digivice?"

Gatomon looked up, "Sure, I guess so."

She jumped up onto the rail beside Patrick's seat and snatched his D3 off his belt, "Here you go," and dropped it into Blackagumon's waiting claws, "Thanks. Now watch this."

He immediately ran outside into the desert. Gatomon jumped down and stared at the digimon, "Watch what?"

"This!" He held the Digivice up, "Independent Digivolution Activate!"

"Blackagumon digivolve to Darkgreymon."

"What the…how'd ya do that without Patrick?" Gatomon looked at the huge digimon in amazement.

"Little thing he's been workin' on. I can digivolve anytime as long as I'm in contact with his digivice."

"Well…I think you should be able to move this thing now!" Gatomon jumped out onto the desert as Darkgreymon flipped the Blackhawk back up.

"Now get them out."

Gatomon jumped back in and started unbuckling Kari. When she started dragging her out she stood in something wet. Her head snapped down to the small puddle forming at her foot. To the naked eye, it was a random liquid, but Gatomon's nose told different.

It smelled like kerosene.

And it was trickling towards the cockpit.

"Uh oh. Not good. Time to get out!" The cat digimon hurried to get her partner to safety.

Darkgreymon grabbed Kari when she was out side, "Now get Paddy."

"The fuel is leaking into the cockpit!"

"Then get him out faster!"

Gatomon jumped onto Patrick's lap and grabbed his buckle, "Come on, time to go."

Just as the digimon had Patrick on the ground the hold filled with flames, "Too late!"

Darkgreymon quickly reached into the hold and grabbed both of them, also managing to knock a crate out of the hold too, "Running time!"

He started running into the desert away from the chopper.

The flames followed the trail of kerosene straight to the source – the fuel tank.

With explosive results.

The already flaming chopper exploded violently, even managing to fling Darkgreymon off his feet and into the sand.

Once the explosions had stopped and everything settled, the two digimon got up.

"Are you ok?" The large digimon asked.

Gatomon jumped up and shook the dust off, "I'll live. Now lets find some shade."

Darkgreymon picked the two humans up, let Gatomon onto his head, and then ran off into the desert.

* * *

"WHERE IS KARI?" Davis went into one of his rages again. Once everyone had a good night's sleep they called an emergency meeting in the computer room. Everyone was present except Mimi, who was still in America, and Ken, who was still down with the flu, and Joe, who was looking after Emma and Declan. 

"You want the truth?" Yolei asked.

"Yeah, of course!"

"Well then," the girl smirked, "She's currently about fifteen years in the future. I'm sure you could find _some_ way to come to her rescue."

"Well…of course! There must be some way," he looked over Yolei's shoulder, "…right Izzy?"

"Actually…no." The red head admitted.

"WHAT?" Everyone chanted simultaneously.

Izzy threw up his hands, "Look guys we're talking about _Time Travel_ for crying out loud! With today's technology it's just impossible."

"Then would you care to explain where the hell MY SISTER IS EXACTLY?" Tai shouted.

"Wait, let me re-word that. I agree she and this 'Patrick' guy are probably in the future but I have no real way of getting there. It is most indefinitely invented in the future so without this futuristic technology I have absolutely no hope of getting there," Izzy sighed, "I'm wish there was something I could do…but there isn't."

"So you're telling me that you can't take us to the future because you don't have the right stuff?" Matt summarised.

"In a matter of speaking, yes."

"But we have the technology, don't we?" Cody asked.

Everyone looked down at the boy, "What you talkin' about Cody? He said _future_ technology, remember?" Davis scolded.

Cody ignored Davis, "I'm assuming the portal you used to get there is still intact…" he trailed off as Izzy thwacked his head of a nearby wall.

"Oh my God…you're right…use the method to return as the one you used to get there in the first place!" He swung round and immediately started typing on the nearby computer.

'I can't believe I got outsmarted by someone half a decade younger than me!' Izzy thought.

"OK guys," He grabbed his Pineapple laptop from the bag at his feet and hit one final key, revealing the digiport on the monitor, "Looks like you're going back to Ireland."

* * *

Kari's eyes fluttered open as she slowly but…painfully…regained consciousness. Getting herself up, she looked around. It looked like she was in a cave of some sort. 

Blackagumon and Gatomon were sitting at the entrance with their backs to her, looking at the sunset, when the cat digimon sensed Kari's awakening.

"How you feelin'?" She asked as she jumped onto her partner's lap.

"Alive…if not a bit stiff," She lay back, stretching, "By the way, where's Patrick?"

"Scavenging the crash site," Blackagumon said bluntly, pointing to a large column of smoke rising into the red sky.

"Crash…site?" Kari slowly started to remember the memories of the last few hours.

She remembered Gatomon saving her from Ken…or what was left of him. Then Patrick took her away in a big helicoptor…but he wasn't the pilot…it was…

"Oh my God…where's TK?" she jumped up, throwing Gatomon off her lap.

No response.

"Blackagumon," she walked over the dark digimon, "What happened to TK?"

She noticed the digimon had his eyes closed, but after an awkward few moments of silence, he looked Kari directly in the face.

"Died on impact."

Kari's body froze. It took a few moments for it to finally sink in, "He's…gone?"

Blackagumon turned his head back and closed his eyes, "Can't see why you're so worried. You've still got your version of TK safe and sound at home.

"Yeah...but...never mind," There was so many questions she wanted to ask him. After settling slightly she sat down beside Blackagumon.

Little did she know, was TK was safe for now, but not for long.

* * *

Tai, Izzy, TK, Matt, Davis, Yolei and Cody were all back at Patrick's school, along with their digimon, walking past the blood-drenched rooms and body-filled corridors. Penguinmon had also insisted on coming. 

"How you doing Teeks?" Matt asked, motioning towards his brother's arm, which was covered in bandages.

"Still a bit sore, but I think I'll make it."

Matt shook his head, "Wait 'till I get my hands on that Patrick guy…he'll pay for putting you in danger!"

The group finally reached the Gym, and the two newbies (They being Matt, Davis and Cody) were horrified by the sight.

Dead bodies were piled in every shape. Blood grease the floor making it extra slippy. The stench of death filled the air, only slightly ventilated but the rather large space missing in the front wall and a few broken windows.

"Actually, Matt, you should be thanking him," TK said.

"What?"

"This is amazing…I mean look at it!" Izzy completely ignored the countless bodies and pointed at the portal machinery, "How much fun me and Jim would have analysing this and learning the secrets of time travel!" It was unusual to see the redhead this giddy.

"Me and Izzy will work on the portal," Yolei said, "You guys…well…"

"Dump your firearms somewhere," Izzy said as he weaved his way through the red stained floor, "Last time I checked it was illegal for minors to posses weapons back home."

"Fair enough," Yolei and Tai took off their holsters and thew them on the ground. However, TK didn't. Not immediately.

Instead he walked over to a small lump of concrete and stared blankly and the ground beside it.

"What were you talking about, bro?" Matt asked as he approached him.

TK pointed at a small bloodstain on the concrete and muttered, "That's Kari's blood."

"Oh…" His brother was speechless. He just didn't know what to say.

TK removed the USP in his holster and examined it, "You see…you were right about Patrick putting us in harm's way…but…"

"But what?"

TK looked up at his brother, "I enjoyed it…every second of it."

Matt was taken aback by this statement, "What do you mean?"

"It's just that…for the first time _I_ was the one doing the fighting, _I _was the one killing people…destroying lives. _I had power over life and death_."

"Don't let it get to your head."

"I'm not. But…It's had to explain…but you know on TV you see those Marines or SEALs or anyone else who uses a gun. They know how to use it and do so perfectly. Until a few days ago, I never thought I'd _ever_ need to fire one, never mind shoot to kill!"

"You _enjoyed_ senseless killing?" Matt was starting to get afraid of his little brother.

"No. It wasn't senseless. We were killing for a purpose. To save someone. And I think we did just that. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that Patrick taught us how to use any manner of firearms, and we used them to perfection. Until now."

"You're not makin' any sense, bro. So he taught you to fire a gun, so what?"

"Matt I've completely forgotten _everything_ Patrick told me. How this gun works, how to load it, un-jam it, aim it, _everything._"

"What are you getting at?" Matt was getting suspicious.

"Look, I don't know what I'm getting at. Nothing makes sense anymore. All I know is that last time I was here, in this room, I was firing this…errr…USP, that's it. And I was _hitting them_. And once I came back through that portal, I forgot all about it."

TK finally removed his holster and set it down by the bloodied block, "And I don't intend on re-learning."

"Guys, we got a problem," Izzy said to the room.

"What now?" Tai asked.

"I've analysed the directional transponder and cross referenced it with the data on that disk Patrick's 'future' self gave you and was able to locate the position in the future where it goes to."

"And?"

"Can I ask, where did you end up when you went through that portal?"

"Errr…hey remember that strange little room we were in?" TK recalled.

"Oh yeah! That was dark!" Yolei remembered.

"Just as I thought. That was a sort of open firewall port that allows people to enter the digital world from other times or dimensions. I'm guessing you went through a digiport then?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Tai asked.

"That would be it signalling you were entering the digital world and why there was no way back. I've bypassed it and reached the castle you were in."

"Great! Lets roll!" Yolei jumped up onto the platform.

"So what's the problem?" Cody asked.

"The portal in the castle doesn't exist anymore."

The group froze in horror, "But then…how will they get back?" Tai asked.

"Well…" He was cut off when Penguinmon walked over to them, "Uh, guys, I don't mean to interrupt or anything…"

"You don't have to be shy around us, we're you're friends," Yolei said smiling.

"Well in that case I'll be frank," He pointed towards the hole in the wall, "There's a B52 Stratofortress coming straight for this school – and it does _not_ look friendly!"

* * *

It was just before the sun set completely that Kari noticed the outline of Patrick on the horizon. When he made it to the cave in the cliff wall, he set down a rucksack and collapsed on the ground, "Shouldn't have used all my frickin' energy dragging that half way across the desert just to get sunset," he grumbled, "If I'd been thinking straight I would of gone at night." 

He sat down and started to prepare a fire for the night ahead.

"What did you find?" Blackagumon asked.

"Loads of stuff actually. A crate fell out of the hold. It was full of M4s, frags, an M203 and get this - a TOW missile launcher! Might be a bit knocked up but I can work on it tonight. You'd be amazed at how many magazines I found! Only got about three TOWs though."

"Well, I guess we both better get a good night's sleep," Kari yawned, "You must be exhausted."

"And more, but someone needs to keep watch."

Kari cocked an eyebrow, "Watch? For what?"

"Blackagumon?" Patrick motioned to the fire.

"Sure thing, Pepper Breath!"

The fire erupted and it wasn't long before the marshmallows were out.

"Were did you get them?"

"Been in my pocket since the last night we camped out. Don't worry, they're safe," Patrick munched a few before answering her previous question, "Do you realise that everyone under the Dark Master's control is probably after us, considering we destroyed half a prison complex and contributed to the destruction of an _entire airbase_?"

"Well now you put it like that…by the way, what happened to the base? Why did we crash?"

"Operation Last Stand, Matt and TK told me about it before the crash, is a failsafe protocol installed in every single installation in this world. If the base is taken over, the commander issues the order and they…well…blow it up."

"They would destroy themselves rather that be taken over. That's stupid!"

"No. It's not. Ever heard of the saying, 'If I can't have it no one can?'"

"Now and then, why?"

"It's more or less the philosophy behind the whole thing. Hey, did you know that back in the Cold War, there was an American protocol that dictated that if the US was ever invaded and overthrown as a superpower, that the President would order the detonation of _every Nuclear device under their control_? That would obliterate the entire continent of North America and send the entire world into a nuclear winter!"

"That's crazy!"

"Crazy, but true. Tell me, did that guy ever tell you why he was kidnapping digidestined?"

The girl shook her head, "No. But I did here Davis mention that I wasn't supposed to be the target. That everyone else was."

The boy thought about this before he stretched and yawned, "Well, time to get to sleep. There will be another question and answer round in the morning, kay?"

"Ok, goodnight." Kari lay down by the fire and was asleep in no time. Gatomon soon went and curled up beside her.

"You better get some kip too, Blackagu," Patrick said to his partner, "We may need Warmarinedramon tomorrow."

"True. Night." As if he'd been waiting for Patrick to tell him it was okay, he fell over backwards and was asleep within a minute.

Patrick looked over the camp. Kari and Gatomon were sound asleep by the fire and Blackagumon was snoring on the other side. He smiled, and then shivered in the cold.

It was going to be a long, cold night.


	24. Moving Out

_Hi guys, I'm back!  
_

_Chapter 23 is FINALLY UP! Sorry it took sooooooo long. I had it written a good while back but I've had alternate endings knocking about so it's been changed about 10+ times. I kept going back to it saying 'Hey, I could make that better...' and 'D'ya know what would be cool...' etc.  
_

_If you have any complaints about the lack of an update, please blame:_

_Battlefield 2, Exams, Halo 2, Conflict: Global Storm, Rainbow Six: Lockdown, More exams, Burnout 3: Takedown, And last but probably most, school_

_For occupying__ more time that I had.  
_

_Now thats out of the way, on with the chapter! _

Chapter 22 – Moving Out  


The three sets of burst shots hit the makeshift target in the bulls eye…or near enough. 

"Good one!" Gatomon complimented.

"Thanks," Patrick took the clip out of the M8 and examined it, "This new hardware is really accurate but burns its ammo away too quickly."

He threw the Assault Rifle onto the ground behind him, "I'll leave it there for a while...see how robust it is."

"So what are we planning to do with all this stuff?" Gatomon looked at Patrick's large array of weaponry, "Start another World War?"

"Something like that," Patrick picked up an rather beefed up looking M16, "I've been waiting to try this baby out for _hours_."

He raised the weapon up proudly, "This is a custom job on an M16A2 Assault Rifle. Personally, I sorta dislike the original, but this beast is an exception."

Sliding his hand down the gripped barrel, he peered down the enlarged scope, "Looks like someone wanted the ultimate weapon. Elongated barrel, x15 scope, larger stock, he's even changed the chamber mechanisms to use 7.72mm rounds instead of standard 5.52mm NATO rounds," He smiled as he slammed a magazine into it, "Lets see if they succeeded, shall we?"

* * *

Kari woke to the sound of bullets firing somewhere outside the cave. Gatomon and Blackagumon were also gone. 

She quickly scrambled to her feet and ran to the entrance. Looking in the direction of the noise, she could see Patrick and the two digimon standing about fifty metres down the cliff face. Noticing what Patrick was firing at, she relaxed.

It was only a target crudely drawn on the a wooden box, with holes shot out all over it (though the majority were in near the centre)

Gatomon saw Kari and ran over to her, "Heya, how'd you sleep?"

"Not too bad. How are the others?" She asked as she continued towards the two boys.

The cat jumped into her arms, "Patrick stayed up all night fixing that rocket thingy but Blackagumon slept okay."

"All…night? Isn't he the least bit exhausted?"

"That's the strange thing – he's not tired at all."

When they finally reached the makeshift firing range, Blackagumon was sitting watching his partner test a sand-covered M8 carbine. After a quick succession of 'clicks' from the gun, he ejected the magazine and threw it at the target.

"Pepper Breath!"

The attack destroyed what was left of the gun.

"I take back anything good I said about them M8 pieces of crap. Future technology may be cool but it's in no way robust. I just left it in the sand for a few minutes and it's completely clogged up. Probably take hours to repair. If an AK-47 went through that same treatment it would still fire like a charm. Guess the Americans just can't build guns like Europeans."

When he calmed down he smiled and turned to Kari, "Morning. Hope I didnt wake you."

"Don't worry. What were you talking about there..." Kari started, only to be interrupted by Blackagumon.

"Please, _don't_ get him started on the whole 'M16 vs. AK' argument or we could be here for hours."

"Well…does the rocket launcher work?" Kari asked.

"Two things: One – Yes, of course it works. I tweaked it all last night."

"The second thing?"

"It's a TOW missile - not a rocket - launcher. And just so you know, TOW stands for Tube Operated Wire-guided."

"Aren't they the same thing?"

Blackagumon rolled his eyes, "Here we go…"

"Missiles are guided. Rockets aren't. The TOW is a missile that is controlled by me through a long cable. Rockets just fire in the general direction they're launched and hit whatever's unlucky enough to be in front of them. Therefore it's only good for slow moving or stationary targets like tan…"

Kari put her hand up to stop him, "Thanks but...I get the idea."

"Good move," Blackagumon muttered.

"Anyway, up for breakfast? I got some military rations. Sorry if they taste like shit, they're all we really got – unless you want marshmallows for breakfast?"

"They can't be that bad, can they?" Kari said as Patrick picked up his stuff and headed back towards the cave.

They _were_ that bad.

* * *

We don't have much time!" Penguinmon said, If that bomber gonna do what I think it's gonna do, then we better get out within the next minute!" 

"Why do I always get a bad feeling when someone says that?" Tai asked.

"Because the last time Patrick told us go get out we got missile striked!" TK answered.

"In that case, if I just transfer the schematics, I can try and duplicate it on a smaller scale," Izzy explained, "Say through the digiport?"

"Do whatever you want, as long as it works!" Tai said.

* * *

High above the school, the B52 opened it's huge bombing bay doors. Inside was housed a _very very very_ big bomb. 

Elsewhere inside the plane, a button was pressed, and the bomb was released.

It was 30 feet long, and 40 inches wide.

It contained 27,700lb of High Explosives.

It is the largest class of conventional warhead bomb ever invented.

It was a GBU-43/B MOAB - A Massive Ordinance Air Blast, also known as the Mother of All Bombs.

And it was coming straight for the Digidestined.

* * *

"How much longer Izzy?" 

"Gimme...30 seconds"

"WE DON'T HAVE 30 SECONDS!"

"Look guys, you're not helping, get to the digiport and get ready to leave, okay?"

"OK then, lets go."

* * *

Kari spat on the ground and took a drink of water. That was easily the worst breakfast she'd ever had! 

Patrick started packing his rucksack, chuckling to himself.

"So can you tell me what happened back at that place?" Kari asked.

"Nothing much, just a 20 Kiloton Tactical Nuke buried under the base and rigged to blow whenever they're compromised," Patrick smiled when he saw Kari's look of shock, "I'm very direct, aren't I?"

"Yes…so then that made us crash?"

"Not directly," Blackagumon said, "The EMP did."

"Was that what that was?" Gatomon asked.

"Why?" Kari looked down at the digimon in her arms.

"Because just before we started going down I got this _terrible _headache, like something was…"

"Drilling into your skull?" Blackagumon finished.

"Well…yes, did you get it too?"

"It's on of the effects of light doses of Electromagnetic radiation on a digimon – migraines," Patrick said, flinging the packed rucksack over his shoulder, "Larger doses can cause…unpredictable side effects."

"Like…"

"Anything really – deletion, corruption, usually a random burst of evolution though…" He turned to his partner, "Hey, remember that time I caused an Elecmon to digivolve to Wargreymon just because you were close by?"

"Don't remind me…that was scary having to deal with him…" Blackagumon started towards the entrance to the cave.

"Yeah…I guess it was…" Kari's mind wandered with thoughts of Gatomon digivolving to Metalgreymon.

Once they were outside, Patrick stopped, "By the way, EMPs have another…_interesting_ effect," he took out an empty cartridge and threw it away from the cliff. A few metres away, it suddenly met a strong electrical force field, and was thrown back.

"It's a sorta firewall, created by a digital world subsystem designed to contain radiation and fallout."

Gatomon's ears perked up, "Something's coming!"

Everyone froze.

"Where? Who…" Patrick spun around, G36C up and ready, searching for the source.

"Over there," the digimon pointed out a small dust cloud on the horizon. It seemed to be getting larger.

Patrick took out a scope and peered into the distance, "Holy shit…it's a convoy!"

"Of what?" Kari asked, already slowly backing towards the cave.

Patrick just jogged back to the cave, "Tanks...and I want one!"

* * *

TRANSFER COMPLETE 

Izzy sharply disconnected his laptop from the console and ran back towards the library.

'Hope I'm not too late...' he thought.

* * *

"What's taking him so long?" said Yolei impatiently. 

"Give him time..."

"Oh my...I can see it coming!" Penguinmon shrieked as he backed away from the window.

The others scrambled to the window to see what exactly was coming.

"Only one bomb? That hardly seems deadly," Matt said.

"Trust me, with the way today's been going - it probably is that deadly," Tai moaned.

Izzy burst into the room, "Right! Let's get out of here!"

"Ok, Digiport open!"

* * *

A few seconds later the MOAB's altitude sensor triggered, detonating the bomb over the East Wing. 

The explosion ripped through the building, shattering every pane of glass, demolishing every wall - nothing survived the blast.

It's destruction is only matched by that of a small nuclear bomb.

* * *

"THAT'S IT!" Yolei yelled, "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF TODAY! I've hardly had a moment to rest without getting ATTACKED!" 

"Calm down Yolei…" Tai tried to calm her down, but failed.

"How can I calm down? Everywhere I turn there's someone with a gun pointed at us…or is dropping bombs on us or something?"

"Just general battlefield paranoia?" Penguinmon questioned.

"YES...I mean…what?" Yolei seemed to settle a bit.

"Battlefield Paranoia is similar to shellshock, except it's when you're constantly on edge, always afraid of being fired at. It was common in the Vietnamese war. Because the Vietcong used guerilla tactics and ambushes, GI's became paranoid about any traps that could be in place, or when they might come under fire from camouflaged troops somewhere nearby. Some veterans became so mentally scared that they never set foot in another wooded area again."

"Wow…I never knew that…" Yolei muttered.

"I guess Patrick must have some form of it then…" TK joked.

"Naaa…he's just generally paranoid…he was born that way."

"By the way, don't you think we should try and…you know…FIND A WAY TO GET THEM BACK HOME?" Matt shouted at the crowd.

"Gee Matt, cool it…I've got everything I need." Izzy said.

"Then may I lend a hand?" A voice came from the hall.

The team swung around to see who the intruder was.

And all they could do was smile.

* * *

An M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT), followed closely by a typical, canvas-covered supply truck, headed the convoy. Behind them was a single file convoy mainly consisting of one other Abrams, a supply truck and a Bradley APC (Armored Personnel Carrier). However, the thing that _really_ stood out was in between. 

It was a large Cargo truck towing a flatbed trailer. The bulky contents of that trailer were covered by a large sheet, which was strongly fastened to the sides.

The convoy had been heading to make a very special delivery to PCX-14, which had recently been assaulted by rebel forces. Unfortunately, a freak accident at Motomiya Airbase had caused the base to detonate it's last line of defense prematurely. It had taken the Dark Master's second in command, Lieutenant General Ichijouji, and third in command, Major General Motomiya, with it, but that didn't bother them at the moment.

What did bother them however, was the EM-Firewall, which had been erected around the site automatically by a digital world subsystem, and was right in their path.

Now they had to take a detour round the firewall, past this large cliff face, almost doubling the ETA.

Suddenly, the lead Abrams noticed a small digimon in the middle of the road. The Tank Commander opened the hatch above his head and took a look.

It was a Gatomon, just lying right in their way. It looked badly injured.

It wasn't long before the driver came over the radio, "Sir, we got roadkill. Please advise."

The Commander was the sort of person who would tell the driver to accelerate, make sure they got it under the threads, then reverse over it to make sure it's dead, but he had a deadline to meet.

And no champion digimon was getting in their way.

"Ignore it. Continue on."

* * *

Meanwhile, after the dust had settled, a large team of SAS made there way into the ruins of the school. 

What was left was secured soon after, and the mission was regarded a success. The MOAB from the B52 had killed all the terrorists, all of which had been in the gym. The threat they posed was eliminated (Even though some started to wonder if they ever posed a threat at all).

The bodies of the entire student population were recovered, apart from those that were absent that fateful day, and two others.

Patrick O'Reilly, and his brother, Declan.

Also, the remains of Commando team Delta Two-Niner were recovered, and were buried as heroes, killed in action by some lunatic with a samurai sword. It was an eventuality that they were never trained for, so the blame was not placed on them.

In a few days, the bodies of some 'terrorists' were identified through DNA testing.

And the investigators were completely and utterly dumbstruck by the results.

Their investigation stalled, never to recover.

* * *

Patrick looked at the situation through the scope on the custom M16 he got from the Blackhawk wreakage (Which he now called the 'M16C'. 'C' being for custom). Him, Blackagumon and Kari were lying ontop of the cliff, right above Gatomon. 

"Go! Hit it!" Patrick said urgently, and nodded to Kari.

"Gatomon digivolve to..."

She stopped.

"I can't...something's not right!" The digimon yelled.

Kari started to scream, "Oh my God, they aren't stopping! She's gonna get squished!"

"Go to Plan B then!" He replied, and Gatomon scrambled back into the cave.

The Abrams was now mere meters away from turning the cat to a splatter. He reached into his rucksack and took out the TOW he had fixed last night. 

He lined up the tank in his sights and adjusted for the speed of the tank.

"Hey! Bastards! Knock knock!" He shouted, just before he fired.

And all Hell broke loose.

_Chapter 24 could be out any time between now and Christmas, since thats really the next time I'll get a break from school...and exams..._

_PS. A recent 14 hour marathon on Halo 2 Live caused my left eye to go short-sighted quite badly. And I don't think playing Battlefield 2 to one in the morning helped much either...ok so I'm an addict...sue me...if you dare  
_


	25. Return to the Castle

_Man, does anyone still care about this story? Ah well, your loss..._

_Don't worry, I have a perfectly good excuse for being half a year late...I didn't want to upload this chapter until I'd finished the next two. In fact this chapter was finished in January!_

_Why? Well...it's complicated. Anyway exams are around the corner (Two weeks!) and I want this finished before the summer holidays, so considering I've already finished Chapter 24 expect it...tomorrow? Maybe I'll actually upload it on time...that'll be a first..._

_Now where were we...oh yeah, that there convoy:_

**Chapter 23 – Return to the Castle**

"AMBUSH!"

"Locate for targets! Call'em when you see'em!"

"Captain Miller is down! Repeat Captain Miller is down!"

"Then who the hell's in charge here?"

"Who cares? Just kill anyone not in uniform!"

The six escorts jumped from the cargo truck. They weren't your standard riflemen though – they were professionals.

They were members of the US Army Rangers, armed with conventional M16A2 Assault Rifles, and lead by Staff Sergeant Ryan Grey.

* * *

Patrick fired the second rocket at the other Abrams, damaging it beyond repair. 

"Hoo-rah!" He said, as the first tank burst into flames.

Then out of the corner of his eye, he noticed infantry working their way up the convoy.

Dumping the TOW to the ground, he grabbed his M16C and peered through the scope, "Hello?"

'They aren't riflemen' he thought, peering over his scope, 'They move...differently...'

Rather than taking them out immediately, he observed them for a few seconds, trying desperately to remember where he'd seen that uniform before.

"You're hesitating," Kari asked, "And thats nearly always a bad sign."

Then it hit home.

"Of course...that's where I saw them!" He stuttered.

Kari seemed more confused than afraid, "Patrick, why do I always get a bad feeling when you look so startled?"

"Because it's usually bad," Blackagumon crouched beside his partner.

"Ever seen the movie Black Hawk Down? Because those guys down there are Rangers!"

The sudden silence was only broken by the wind.

"If I were you, I'd shoot them," The digimon whispered, "Now!"

Patrick quickly shivered to calm his muscles, and then took aim.

* * *

The USS Firewall is the latest Aircraft Carrier in the United States Navy. At 400m long and 80m wide, it's got plenty of room. But there is something special about this carrier. It doesn't actually exist. 

This Nimitz-class 'Super Carrier' can hold a maximum of 85 aircraft in its huge hanger under the flight deck, but can defend itself with 21 Sea Sparrow SS (Sea-to-Sea) Missiles and 5 Phalanx AA guns.

In short, the Firewall is just a much larger version of the CVN-76 USS Ronald Reagan. However, it was constructed in less than an hour.

Accompanied with a Battle Group, it's a force to be reckoned with.

But it wasn't in a Battle Group.

Maybe that's why it got attacked.

* * *

"Man down! Crawley's been hit!" 

"SNIPER!"

"Forde! White! Get'im into cover! I'm gonna get the APC! Rest of you, lay down covering fire!"

Ryan started to sprint back to the Bradley APC, at the rear of the convoy.

Since they were low on manpower back at their base, they had programmed the convoy to follow the vehicle infront of it, with the two Abrams at the front.

Patrick knew the autopilot wasn't programmed to fight.

He never expected someone to override it.

* * *

Patrick withdrew from the edge of the cliff as bullets whizzed past his head. 

"Son of a Bitch!"

"Need some help?" Blackagumon asked.

"Yeah, show'em what we can do!"

"Blackagumon Warp Digivolve to…"

Patrick didn't even bother taking his eye off the scope. He could sense that Blackagumon hadn't digivolved.

"I see what Gatomon means."

Patrick stood up and fired, "Any ideas why?", then fired again.

The digimon thought for a second, and then nodded, "Must be that containment shield. It's sapping our energy."

"Fair enough," He ducked back down again and reloaded the rifle, "The plan just changed."

* * *

The noise upon the USS Firewall's flight deck was bad enough, without the downdraft of a CH-60 Sea Hawk Helicopter battering the crew. As soon as the chopper landed, a man in naval officer uniform stepped out, and was greeted by a flight attendant. 

"Good to see you sir! The Captain will meet you on the Bridge," He yelled over the immense noise coming from the chopper.

"Very good," The man waved a hand at the island, "Lead on."

* * *

"Ready?" Patrick whispered. 

"More than I'll ever be," Kari replied.

"Then in three…two…one!"

Patrick jumped up and fired his TOW at the truck the Rangers were behind. His plan relied on them all being wherever they were last time.

And they were…mostly.

He flipped the empty tube of the launcher and Kari handed a new one from his pack.

"Now that obstacle's out of the way, lets…"

"BEHIND YOU!" Gatomon's voice rang out.

The two of them spun around to see the entire squad behind them, M16's pointed straight at them.

"How the fuck..." Patrick was amazed.

"Drop your weapons and raise you hands," One demanded.

Patrick dropped the loaded missile launcher and the three of them raised their arms.

"ALL of them," he shouted at Patrick.

The teenager sighed and slung his M16C off his shoulder, and dropped it on the ground.

A bullet whizzed past his head.

"I'M NOT JOKING AROUND," The centre one yelled, "Your sidearms."

Patrick took out a pair of USPs, 9mms and some Frag Grenades.

Kari stared at him.

"What?" he replied in defence.

"You are surrounded. Try to escapeand you WILLdie."

"Surrounded?" Blackagumon looked behind him and down the cliff.

"Is it the Bradley?" Patrick asked, not turning to look.

"Yep."

"What way's it looking?"

"At us. I'm not liking the look of our life expectancy here."

Patrick growled as the Rangers approached.

* * *

"Nice of you to join us Admiral," The captain shook the uniformed man's hand. 

"Good to be here. Is everything good to go?"

"Yes sir. The Prototype is fuelled and ready for a full test flight," The captain announced, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.

"I trust it shall be successful?"

"You won't be disappointed, sir."

"Good. I hope you don't mind if I have some inspectors look at it before the test flight?"

The captain looked vaguely surprised, "Do you…not trust my safety crew?"

"I mean no offence, Captain," The admiral held up his hands in defence, "I just wish for an independent officer to have a run over it before take off. We wouldn't want _human error_ to be a factor if it doesn't work?"

"Ver…very well. I shall authorise their landing personally," the captain was slightly shaken, "Would you like to…errr…see the prototype, sir?"

"If you please. Lead on."

They made their way down to the hanger.

* * *

Patrick and Kari were pushed roughly towards the APC. Their hands were tied behind their backs. 

"In you go," One of the Rangers said.

They sat down opposite each other, but before the Ranger closed the door behind them, Patrick unclipped his digivice and threw it through outside. Even Kari didn't notice.

"So where you lads heading?" Patrick asked unusually cheerfully, taking them by surprise.

"I think you know where," The driver answered coldly.

"What's on the truck?"

"Does it matter?"

"Wowa, loosen up," he leaned back, "I'm just curious."

The Bradley started moving, followed by the truck.

* * *

The hanger of the USS Firewall covers a large portion of the area directly beneath the main deck. It was filled with Sea Hawks, F/A-18 Hornets, F22 Raptors, F14 Tomcats and many others. 

The main attraction was near the back, in a sealed hanger.

Outside its doors stood the ship's Captain, the Admiral, and a handful of engineers and crew members.

"What you are about to see sir," The captain announced, "Is the product of years of development and months of construction. Now it is ready for it's first test run."

He signalled to an engineer to open the hanger doors, which he did.

The huge foot-thick steel door slide to the side, allowing a full view of the chopper inside.

The Captain had a broad grin right across his face.

"Amazing…Fantastic," The Admiral's face suddenly went sour, "It looks no different from the last report."

"Errr…that's…because…errr…"

'Crap' His brain stalled.

"All the changes are internal sir!" And engineer announced.

"Exactly, Corporal!"

"Actually, sir..." He cut off when he realised he's just got promoted.

"Internal eh?" The Admiral scratched his chin, "Well in that case let my inspectors have a look at it."

"Certainly…" The truth was they had done very little since the last time, almost a month ago. Their last test had exploded on take-off due to a faulty part.

A new pilot was suiting up, ready to finish what was started.

He would never set foot in the aircraft.

* * *

Almost half a day later, Kari and Patrick found themselves in a cell in PCX-14. Kari had flashbacks of her last trip, with Declan. Now she was in the exact same position, except with his older brother and digimon partner. 

"Well I guess this is it," Kari groaned, "The end of the road."

"Come on Kari, don't give up!" Blackagumon tried to cheer her up.

"What chance do we have?" She counted a list with her fingers, "We're trapped _alone _in the future. We have no friends. No rescue team. They took our digivices. We're probably just gonna be executed for _assassinating_ two of their officers and worst of all Gatomon is lost out there somewhere!"

"Wow, now that you put it that way…" Blackagumon fell backwards.

"No, you're wrong," Patrick got up from the bed, "In fact only three of those were correct."

"Huh?"

"Well put it this way – The third one was wrong and Gatomon is anything but lost."

Kari looked at him puzzled, "How do you know that?"

A grey object appeared out of nowhere and Patrick grabbed it.

"Because she was right outside."

Kari spun around to the window to see the figure of Gatomon sitting outside the barred window.

She was just about to shout with joy when the cell door flung open and three of the Rangers entered, pointing their USPs right at Patrick.

"You're coming with us."

* * *

The USS Firewall soon found another Sea Hawk landing on its deck, but this time with a different cargo. 

A _very_ different cargo.

In fact more different than anyone on the ship could ever imagine.

One of the deck crew ducked over to the chopper and slid the hatch open. He knew these were supposed to the Admiral's inspectors, so he was expecting scientist-looking people in white coats.

Instead he saw 9 heavily armed men.

And it was the last thing he ever saw.

* * *

Somewhere in the real world, a _real _lab-coated scientist leafed through his clipboard. He was in a small, concrete room, which was only illuminated by the portable Halogen lamp he had brought in. 

At one end sat a computer console and a Blast Door.

The scientist checked his watch, smiled, and looked over at the empty end of the room.

As if on cue, a whisp of light materialised out of nowhere, before suddenly expanding and contracting. It was gone as fast as it came.

But in its place was a large digimon.

"Is everything going to plan?" The mega had a gruff, almost hoarse voice.

The scientist checked his clipboard, "Yes, everything so far has been predicted."

"They came through here?" He motioned at the used flare on the ground near the console.

"They arrived here sometime yesterday. The group proceeded to take the Digiport to the designated spot, where they met up with Cody. Foxtrot team moved in at first light, and attempted to secure the camp."

"I guess it wasn't successful?"

"Errrr…no, the alarm was raised prematurely and they were forced to execute their backup plan."

"The LASM strike from the Siloh."

The scientist nodded, "The missiles hit their target and the camp was neutralised. However, like cockroaches they survived, and assaulted the main facility."

"Did they rescue the girl?"

He bowed his head, "Unfortunately, our forces there could not hold them for very long. We lost the Siloh and most of their team escaped," he smiled, "Everyone except Patrick and the girl."

"Excellent. They are alone and afraid. We must find them at once."

"No need for that sir. Less than an hour ago I was informed that a team of Rangers found and captured the two. They were attempting to jack the convoy."

The man looked interested now, "Did they know about the cargo?"

"Apparently not. They are currently being held in PCX-14 as we speak, and are scheduled to be executed by firing squad," he checked his watch, "About now."

* * *

Patrick, Kari and Blackagumon were led out into the courtyard of the castle. Rubble still littered the area and one of the walls was collapsed. Patrick could remember the fight with the army of riflemen while the others escaped. He wondered if they got home ok. 

He wondered about Emma.

His train of thought was cut off as he was shoved into one of the still standing walls. Standing in front of them were four riflemen, all with loaded M16s. The rest of the surviving ranger team were watching from behind the firing squad.

"Patrick O'Reilly,"SSgt Greysaid, "You are to executed for genocide, destruction of military property and attempting to free an inmate."

'Attempt?'Patrick thought, 'Last time I checked we escaped...just not far enough….'

"Kari Kamiya," He continued, "You to are to be executed for collaborating with a known terrorist and escape from prison."

'Oh so I'm a terrorist now?' Patrick smirked, 'Didn't he just say we _attempted_ and therefore _didn't escape_ from here?'

"Any last words?" He finished.

Patrick looked at the ranger and said, "Screw you."

Ryanjust shook his head, "Goodbye."

Time ground to a halt.

'This really is it,' Kari thought, 'There's no way out this time.'

She closed her eyes, waiting for the end.

Even Patrick knew he was done for.

There was no plan.

No fancy moves.

Just them and four Assault Rifles.

He closed his eyes and felt the wind rush through his hair, and listened to it whistle over the courtyard.

He was the only person in the courtyard listening close enough to hear it.

That distinct sound.

The muffled roar of rotor blades.


	26. Home Run

_Hoo-ah! I finally made a deadline!_

_Bad news is - you'll have to wait until next weekend for the Chapter 25...but I'm not making any promises..._

Chapter 24 – Home Run

The four riflemen were torn to pieces as the air was punctured with a sudden burst of gattling fire that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

With this new unknown threat, the Rangers ducked behind cover, some firing wildly into the sky only to be cut down by a hail of bullets.

Patrick saw the chance and took it.

He grabbed Kari and ran towards the nearest corridor, with Blackagumon bringing up the rear.

"What was that?" Kari asked as they turned the corner and stopped to catch their breath.

"Hell if I know, but whatever it liked us. Now come on," He started down the corridor again.

"To where?" Blackagumon asked.

"Dunno," They reached a T-junction, "But I'm gonna find out."

They went right, "That control platform above the hanger has access to all the main databases in the Digital World. If I can hack into it I can find a way home."

"So we just have to find it?"

"That's the easy part. The hard part will probably be getting to it," Patrick kicked a locked door down, "I have a feeling it will be heavily guarded."

Minutes later, they reached the control room overlooking the empty hanger. Patrick sat himself down in front of a console and started typing.

"This'll take a sec," He said, "Thankfully, TK only locked his terminal so I know a valid username. Now what could the password be?"

Kari just looked out the window at the vast hanger below.

"Patrick, I think you should see this…"

"Are we under attack?"

"No, but…"

"Then I don't care."

"Actually," Blackagumon saw it to, "I think you do."

"Ok, fine," Patrick got up and looked through the window, "But his better be…worth…"

He was cut off in mid sentence by the totally uncalled for appearance of Emma.

* * *

"What the fuck is that?" Ryan roared into his radio. 

A reply came from a guard on the battlements of the castle, "It's a chopper sir!"

"NO SHIT!"

Then another voice came on, "Stinger missile locked – FIRING!"

A finger of smoke extended from somewhere in the castle and blazed towards the source of the downdraft.

The Ranger smiled, "Gotcha."

His celebration was short-lived.

Because as the Stinger got near it's target above the courtyard it suddenly steered right and disappeared of the edge of the facility.

"What the…" The voice cut off as a short burst of gatling fire was launched in his direction.

And as quick as it appeared, the phantom was gone.

"Sit rep!" The ranger demanded.

"We've got about 9 troops down sir, no injured! They're all dead!" A shaken ranger shouted back.

Just then a new voice appeared in the team leader's radio. He nodded and got up.

"Ok, listen up," He shouted into the courtyard. The few surviving rangers were grabbing their fallen comrade's Dogtags.

"We got new orders. All Rangers still combat ready is to report to the hanger. Our 'prisoners' are trying to hitch a ride out of here."

* * *

Patrick almost flew down the stair well, into the hanger and right into Emma's open arms. 

"You're ok!" He sighed with relief, "How you feeling?"

"A little stiff," She stretched, "But ready for some serious payback."

"Sorry to disappoint, but we were just leaving." He looked over at the portal at the other end of the hanger.

"So Izzy got it working," Patrick smiled, "Knew I could count on him."

"Yes and no," Emma looked over at the portal, "It actually took him a few days, but he set the portal back to when he suspected you'd be back in the base."

"Well he made a very good guess," He said.

"Actually, we got some help," She looked at Kari, "Our first attempt ended up in the middle of the desert, but coincidently enough we found Gatomon."

"Is she alright?"

"Yep. She told us everything you lot have been up to and gave us a pretty good idea of where to put the portal down," Emma pointed at Patrick's digivice, "Gatomon went off to give you the digivice but came back when you were taken away..."

"You can tell me everything later, but for now, I'm just glad you're still alive," Patrick smiled.

"Can't wait to get home," Blackagumon said.

Just then, a shower of bullets hurtled right past them…

…and into the portal.

The group quickly hit the deck as round after round went into the past.

It didn't last long.

The portal soon closed.

They were stuck…_again_.

"Will this nightmare ever end!" Patrick yelled as he got up and saw who the culprit was.

The hail had come from an M60E4 machine gun, but it was the user that caught his attention.

It was Warmarinedramon.

Correction - _Dark_marinedramon

"Did I...miss something?" A very confused Emma asked.

"Oh I'm sorry," He put the M60 down, "Were you using that?"

"Who are you!" Patrick demanded.

"Why, I'm you."

"Actually, last time I checked – I was me."

"I'm your future," He raised his arms into the air, "The ruler of the Digital World!"

"The Dark Master…" Kari muttered.

Patrick's brain stalled. He just stood there, unable to process the information in front of him.

"I'm the…Dark Master…" He eventually spat out.

"Wow, was I really that slow?"

"I'm gonna kill you for what you did to Emma."

"Have fun. I'm far stronger now than I was back then!"

"We'll see about that," He turned to Emma and gave her his radio "If Izzy opens another portal, he'll probably radio you. Find him."

She put on the headset, "Be careful."

Kari and Gatomon followed her towards the door Patrick had come from earlier.

Seconds later, Warmarinedramons charged his future self.

* * *

"CLOSE IT!" 

"No! I can't! They might need to get through!"

"If you don't close it we'll all DIE!"

"…fine. You win."

The portal disappeared.

Izzy got back up onto his chair as everyone else came out from behind cover. He had worked out how to open a portal, and had set up the relevant equipment in a building in the Digital World. They had just sent Emma to the future when gunfire tore through the portal. Thankfully, nobody was injured but it meant Izzy had to close the portal. The only people here were Izzy, Tai, TK, Matt, Yolei and Declan- the rest were at home.

"Can you open it again?" Tai asked, picking up Agumon's digiegg.

"Not in the same position, or we'll probably end up with the exact same predicament. I suggest we move the portal _slightly_ and radio Patrick."

"How much is slightly?"

"I've had some good practice with moving the portal, so maybe if I just change this...and that there...and decrease a few of these...and there!"

Moments later the portal was open once more – this time safely.

Yolei held up a radio headset she had held onto, "Ok, who first?"

"I will," TK volunteered.

"Not with your arm your not!" Matt grabbed onto his brother.

Silence.

"I vote me," Declan grabbed the headset and jumped into the portal.

"Isn't anyone gonna stop him?" asked Matt.

"He'll be ok," Tai said confidently, "He's an abnormally tough kid."

TK stared at the portal, "Yeah. Almost too tough…"

* * *

Darkmarinedramon and Warmarinedramon. 

Both were practically identical, only the future version had black armour and was slightly taller. Combat wise, they were even.

Warmarinedramon launched his right fist at his dark version's face, but was too slow and he ducked under his arm. Darkmarinedramon then smashed Warmarinedramon in the back with both fists, knocking him over. Just before he reached the gound, Warmarinedramonrolled forwards and fired a Plasma Strike behind him, but it was easily dodged.

Patrick cursed. He just needed a break. A distraction – _anything_.

That break came from a sudden roar of an engine and a sudden rush of wind as something entered the hanger.

Something they couldn't see.

Darkmarinedramon was thrown off balance from the uncalled for downdraft.

There

Warmarinedramon raised both arms, "Plasma…STRIKE!"

Instead of a small but devastation bolt of plasma, this time it was a _huge_ ball of it…and it hit Darkmarinedramon square on the chest. He shot back, screaming in pain, and slammed into the wall of the hanger, causing a huge smoking crater.

Moments later, a Humvee screeched to a halt beside the remaining Digimon.

Kari poked her head out of the gun turret, "Izzy opened another portal! Come on, Declan's waiting for us just outside the forest!"

Flash 

Patrick and Blackagumon jumped into the back of the Humvee and Emma floored the accelerator.

Once again, they had been saved by the Phantom Chopper.

* * *

Declan jumped back through the portal, "Ok, they're coming." 

Izzy cheered, "How far was I?"

"A few kilometres. It's just outside the forest surrounding the castle."

"How long will it take them?" Tai asked.

"No idea, butif I knowPatrick, he'll go out with a _bang._"

* * *

As Emma gunned up the narrow ramp out of the castle, Patrick looked about for a weapon. 

"Is there at least a handgun here? You know what they say about knives and gunfights!"

Emma thumbed into the back, "We picked up a few bits and pieces lying about the motor pool. A few USPs, Deagles, even a TOW. Oh, and this class customised M16…"

"You got my M16C?"

"A what now?"

"Never mind. Where is it?"

Kari passed it to him from the back compartment, "This it?"

"Hello baby. Did you miss me?" He accepted the rifle graciously.

By now the entire facility was in full alert and just about everyone was jumping in anything with four wheels and a motor and headed after the assailants.

Emma saw them in the wing mirror, "Contacts – 6 O'Clock."

Patrick turned and saw them too. He jumped up onto the Hummer's mounted 50cal machine gun, "Under control. Keep driving."

They were currently being pursued by a lightly armoured jeep and what looked like a dune buggy, but someone was about to change that.

Patrick cocked the massive 50cal and opened fire on the buggy.

It was immediately cut to shreds and flipped into the air before bursting into flames and crashing back down.

This didn't phase the jeep, whose passengers leaned out the window and fired with their M8s.

Patrick ducked as the incoming fire whizzed over his head. Seconds later he was back up and unloaded a barrage into the front windscreen of the jeep. Its driver was hit and it steered into the wall.

The Humvee was now approaching the main drawbridge, which was the only way out for them at the moment.

To make matters worse the drawbridge was raised – leaving a gap about five times the length of the vehicle.

Patrick got down from the 50cal and prepared his M16C.

"Emma get up on that 50 and give me covering fire. Don't bother getting back into the driver's seat, I'll take it from here. Kari, throw a smoke grenade out your window once I get out. Everyone else, stay down."

When they neared the control booth alongside the towering drawbridge, the two operators got walked out to see what all the commotion was about.

They were met with the cold, hard bumper of a 1 tonne Humvee.

"Roadkill!" The driver declared before undoing her buckle and jumping into the gunner position. Patrick jumped out his door and slammed it behind him. Blackagumon handed Kari a smoke grenade, who opened her window a fraction and lobbed the grenade out.

At the moment they were alone, but engines could be heard in the distance.

The smoke started to billow up, providing a black, impenetrable barrier between the two parties.

The good news was, this would hold them for a good 10 minutes.

The bad news was that reinforcements were on the way.

Reinforcements who weren't afraid of a little smoke.

* * *

The remainder of the Ranger squad ran over to the large crater in the hanger wall, M16s raised. 

Ryan Grey peered into the hole and saw his commanding officer staring back.

"Errr…are you ok sir?"

Patrick jumped out of the hole and brushed off the rubble, "Do I look ok to you Staff Sergeant?"

"Looks like they got away sir, shall we pursue?"

"I know that! I saw them get away in one of _our_ Hummers!"

The Commander took out his radio and said, "Red Alert! Say again, Red Alert! Two prisoners are escaping via Humvee to the main entrance. All units to the are to persue!"

He then turned the Rangers, "Get my chopper ready. I don't care if he is my past self – he has to die!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Patrick was in the control booth, trying to get the drawbridge down and wasn't having much success. 

All the controls seemed to be in a different language…something similar to Spanish...

After cursing the Hispanic operator and his crap Spanish teacher, he noticed the winch used to haul the huge cables that operate the bridge, and applied his saying, 'Shoot it and see what happens.'

He lodged a hand grenade in the locking gears beside the winch drum, pulled the pin and ran back to the Humvee.

An explosion rocked the Humvee, and shattered all the glass in the booth. Soon after that great steel drawbridge slammed onto it's ledge on the other side, allowing access to the pier that crossed over to the mainland. Patrick hopped in and revved up the V8 engine.

The new driver pushed the HMMWV as hard as he could.

Emma ducked back down into the vehicle, since there were no immediate threats.

This peace ended about halfway across the 300-meter bridge.

Now they were out in the open, they were vulnerable to air attack – an opportunity that the approaching AH-64D Apache took.

"Shit! Gunship – 3 O'Cl…" Patrick looked at the enemy helicopter and paused, "Oh, back for more, eh?"

He was the pilot of the Apache.

Well…his future self anyway.

It flew at the group from their right hand side, and unleashed a barrage from its M230 30mm cannon. The rounds pinged of the armoured 4x4, and cracked all the bulletproof glass down that side before flying over them.

"Bastard!" Patrick spat.

"But that's you!" Emma laughed.

"Don't remind me! We're almost at the forest, which should give us with some cover."

"Why doesn't he Hellfire our ass?"

"Probably doesn't want to damage this bridge…which probably means he'll use them while we're in the forest."

"Too late for any second thoughts!" Blackagumon pointed out the rapidly approaching overgrowth.

About 30 seconds later they hurtled into the forest, the Apache in hot pursuit, and everything got a whole lot worse.

An explosion rocked the Humvee onto two wheels for what felt like ages to Patrick, and crashed back down to the ground.

"Hydra rockets!" Emma sounded slightly relieved.

"Yeah if it was a Hellfire we'd be toast." Patrick swerved another impact.

Emma jumped up onto the 50cal and fired at the persuing Gunship. It swerved off to the left and out of sight. She got back down into the passenger's seat.

They continued for a good kilometre before entering part of the track that was sheltered by huge trees.

"Emma, grab the TOW. I have a feeling he's at the other end of this covered bit. When we come back out into the open, shove one in the cockpit!"

"Will do," Emma jumped into the back, grabbed the missile launcher and popped out the turret. She could hear the roar of the Apache's rotors up ahead, read to ambush them.

As soon as they broke back into the sunlight, Emma lined up the TOW and fired at the gunship hovering ahead of them. The white streak raced towards the helicopter…

…which at the last second pulled up, causing the missile to shoot right under it.

"Oh…crap…"

In reply, a small wisp of smoke emerged from the gunship, signalling the launch of the deadliest Air-to-Ground missile around.

The Hellfire missile.

Emma ducked back down into the Humvee, threw herself down beside a petrified Kari and yelled, "Incoming!"

Patrick saw the missile coming straight for them, but there was nothing he could do.

The Hellfire smashed into the engine block, causing the car to flip end over end multiple times.

It came to rest about 100 metres down the road…upside down.

The Apache circled around, unloading its gatling cannon into the smoking carcass.

There was no movement.

No signs of life.

Nothing.

The Apache, now satisfied it had got the kill it wanted, returned to base to rearm.

* * *

Two kilometres down the road, Declan and Tai waited patiently. 

"That's it, I'm trying the radio again." Declan was just about to turn the headset on when he heard an explosion in the distance.

They looked at each other, and then jumped back into the portal.

* * *

Kari felt someone nudge her back. 

She could feel a light breeze on her face.

"Kari?" That was TK's voice!

She was stunned when she opened her eyes to see an endless field of white flowers, broken only by the occasional Cherry blossom tree.

"What…who…where…" Kari was speechless.

"Don't worry. You're home now." TK smiled warmly.

"What happened?" She finally managed to say.

Tai's voice appeared behind her, "We came and got you of course!"

"Ok…is Patrick and Emma ok?"

When she mentioned the two names, Tai and TK's face went white, and their whole body went rigid.

Kari just stared in total confusion.

It was then that they looked down at the growing red patch on their chests, right on their heart.

Seconds later they collapsed in unison.

Kari jumped up with a squeal, "What's going on?"

The cloudless sky suddenly turned black and thunder could be heard.

A voice called out sending a chill down her spine, "Oh Kaaaaaaaari."

It was Patrick's voice.

She slowly turned around, to see the figure of Patrick slowly approach. All the flowers around him turned blood red as he calmly came closer. Kari tried to run, but was rooted with fear.

Patrick then stopped, and revealed he was carrying a large rifle. To the girl's utter shock he brought the rifle up to his shoulder and looked through the scope. A thin green laser point shot out from below the barrel. At first it was on her forehead, but it slowly lowered down to her chest, then overher heart.

"KARI!"

* * *

"Wake UP!" 

Kari's eyes shot open as Emma slapped her across the face.

"Ow…what was that for?" She rubbed her eyes.

"RUN!" Emma yelled from inside the Humvee. Kari looked around to see she was outside the jeep, which was lying upside down.

"But..." She noticed Patrick was still fastened in the drivers seat, upside down and completely covered in blood.

"Is he…ok?" Kari just stared at the wounded man.

"Not really…" Emma just looked down at the pooling blood.

It was then that Kari noticed Patrick wasn't breathing.

She gasped in shock, "No…not now…"

"The portal is about two kilometres north of here," Blackagumon practically whispered. Kari frowned, "You don't look so good."

The digimon smiled, "Tell me about it. I'm pretty banged up."

"I'm sorry but you'll have to go alone," She looked down at her legs, "I think I broke something in the crash. I'm stuck here."

A dust cloud was growing on the horizon.

Emma just smiled, "Take care of yourself."

They just looked at each other for a few moments before the tears welled in Kari's eyes. She turned around and ran into the undergrowth.

Emma watched her for a few seconds before turning back to the matter at hand.

She grabbed her weapon of choice - an M24 sniper rifle - and gathered as much ammo as she could from the crippled Humvee.

Once the approaching vehicles were close enough, she lay down prone on the ceiling of the Hummer and aimed the rifle out the front window.

She took aim and opened fire.


	27. The Final Showdown

_Hey the volume of people who read this story is great...but totally useless to me if you don't review__...come on guys tell me what you think._

_If I get enough postive feedback I may write a sequel...HINT HINT..._

Chapter 25 – The Final Showdown

Kari just ran.

She shot through the dense undergrowth with only one thing in mind.

Home.

In just a few kilometres she would finally be home after what seemed like a month.

Stopping to catch her breath, Kari looked back. Gunshots could be heard echoing through the forest. This reminded her of Emma's present – the M9 handgun.

While she was still unconscious, Emma had strapped a holster and M9 to her right thigh. It was still in the holster, untouched, and she planned to keep it that way. The last thing she wanted on her conscience was murder.

With renewed strength she pushed on towards her goal.

She never noticed that the world around her was going grey.

* * *

The lead Humvee edged its way towards the crash site. The driver stopped, causing all the other vehicles behind it to stop. He took out a scope and looked into the smoking wreckage… 

…and straight into the barrel of an M24 sniper rifle.

He died a second later from a gunshot to the head. Bulletproof glass is only good against small arms fire and an M24 is anything but. It hit right in the forehead.

A passenger in the backseat jumped up onto the 50cal machine gun on top.

Big mistake.

No longer protected inside the Humvee, he was swiftly terminated.

The rest of the units from the following Hummers jumped out fired upon the hidden sniper.

* * *

Emma took aim. 

BANG

Headshot.

BANG

Another kill.

BANG

One more shot…gotta reload.

BANG click

She swiftly tore of the empty magazine, grabbed a new one and stuffed it in.

Just as she looked back out the windshield she saw that they were approaching too fast for a sniper to take care off. Whipping out a USP handgun Emma dropped a few riflemen who got too close, "Stay back you bastards!"

Then Patrick's M16C caught her eye. Hesitating for a second, she reached over to it, clicked the safety off and aimed it at the enemy.

"This one's for you Patrick."

* * *

As for Patrick…well…he wasn't sure where he was. 

Everything was dark and he couldn't see his hand in front of his face.

Until someone turned the sun on…

Patrick saw he was on the shore of the Dark Ocean.

"Not here again…"

* * *

Kari stopped dead. 

"What…that noise…" She finally realised what had happened.

"Nooooo," She cried out in pain, clutching her head, "Not now…"

The sound of lapping waves got louder until she finally stumbled towards it…

..and saw a small 10 year old boy.

* * *

Emma finished off the rest of the magazine and quickly switched to her handgun, and after reloading that she reloaded the M16C and continued holding back the enemy. 

This was _her_ last stand.

* * *

Patrick saw a ripple out in the ocean. 

Before he knew what was happening, he was back to his 10 year old self.

And right on cue Metalseadramon emerged from the murky waters.

* * *

Kari jumped back in shock. 

'Metalseadramon? But Wargreymon finished him off _years_ ago!'

A who and where this little boy came from also confused her, but he looked strangely familiar, '…wait…is that….'

* * *

Patrick looked up at the towering Digimon. 

"Well, well, well," The mega chuckled, "What do we have here?"

"Go. Do your worst," Patrick bowed his head, "I've done my bit."

"NO!" A small voice appeared behind him, but he didn't look round.

Kari yelled at the boy, "Don't give in. We still need you here Patrick."

"What for?" Metalseadramon bellowed, "Wherever he goes death trails behind him. You can't escape."

"You're right…" Patrick sighed.

"Patrick, at this moment Emma is fighting a fight she can't possibly win," She pointed behind herself, "And she's doing it for _you_!"

"Hear that Patrick!" The digimon laughed, "Looks like little Emma's gonna join us too soon!"

The boy was silent. In his mind he could see Emma fire her M16C at the approaching riflemen. A round skimmed her left arm and she screamed in pain. But she still found the strength to grab her USP and fire two rounds into a rifleman who was just yards from the Hummer.

There was a small gust of wind and Blackagumon appeared beside his partner.

"Patrick, do you remember when we first made it back to the real world," Asked the digimon, "After we got wiped by the Dark Masters?"

He nodded in reply.

"You swore you'd never let anyone die untill you'd tried _everything_ in your power to help them."

'So that's why he was so hell-bent on getting me home' Kari thought.

"Well guess what Patrick," Blackagumon whispered, "Emma's going to die."

Then Patrick snapped.

"Not if I can help it."

There was a flash of light as Patrick's crest rose from his chest.

He quickly aged back to 18.

Blackagumon just smiled and broke apart. The small bits of data rushed into Patrick's digivice, changing it. It grew squarer, with a bigger screen and a few more buttons.

It was now a D4 – Digital, Detect, Discover and Destroy.

Kari's crest also started glowing also, "Go for it!"

Patrick disappeared into the light. Metalseadramon jumped backwards, cringing in the brightness.

When everything was over, a new Digimon stood on the beach.

And he was pissed off.

The old Warmarinedramon had gained two large chain guns on his wrists, each connected to two identical boxes on his back by a long black pipe. He also now had a helmet with the Crest of Rage printed on it and a clear visor stretching over his eyes from each ear.

The digimon turned round and walked towards Kari. Metalseadramon just grinned, then started to reverse back into the ocean.

"Hey, remember to take the safety off," he chuckled, pointing to the holster. The voice was all Patrick, there was no hint of Blackwargraymon this time at all.

"I'll try," she smiled in return, "Now go save Emma!"

"Will do."

In the blink of an eye, Warmarinedramon had disappeared. For a split second, Kari thought she saw a group of people out in the sea where Metalseadramon had once been, but this too disappeared along with the Dark Ocean. Once again, she found herself alone in the forest.

After a long, deep breath, she set off once again.

* * *

The Dark Master watched the incoming thermal feed from the Predator UAV hovering above a certain 4x4. 

"Thought I finished you off…oh well. You're screwed anyway," He moved the UAV along the road slightly, and picked up something. Nothing much - just a flash of heat, then nothing.

"So Kari did escape," He immediately keyed the intercom, "All pilots to hanger. Repeat, all pilots are to get airborne. There is an escaped prisoner on the move in sector CD-36. Fire on sight and use all means necessary to make sure she doesn't reach the edge of the forest!"

He switched to his radio, "Ranger team, are you ready to go?"

"Yes sir, we're just about to leave," He could hear rotor blades in the background, "ETA to the objective – 5 minutes."

"Delay takeoff. I'm coming too. This is personal."

"Affirmative. Waiting for your arrival."

The Dark Master grabbed his Desert Eagle and headed towards the hanger.

* * *

Emma slammed the last magazine into the USP. After this…well…she wasn't going to think about that. She would die along side Patrick like she planned to do. 

Another wave of bullets pinged around the crippled Hummer. Would the endless stream of riflemen ever stop?

She fired the newly loaded handgun at a crouching rifleman who was getting too many rounds into the vehicle.

Just to make things worse, a Blackhawk helicopter emerged above the riflemen.

"Shit, reinforcements!" But she was wrong.

The chopper flew right over her and headed down the road…towards the portal.

"FUCK NO!"

Her moment of hesitation allowed a rifleman to run up to the jeep and point his rifle right at her past Patrick's body.

There was no way he could miss. Accepting her fate, Emma closed her eyes.

She was going to die.

CRACK

Opening her eyes, she saw an amazing sight.

Just as he was about to fire, Patrick's limp arm shot up, grabbed the barrel of the M16 and crushed it.

The rifleman looked at the presumed dead man in utter shock.

"I'm back."

Patrick's other hand reached up to his holster and took out his Deagle. He fired one round into the man's chest, killing him instantly.

Patrick tore the buckle off with near inhuman strength and instead of falling on his head he vaulted out like he was in zero gravity.

"Oh God, I thought you were dead!" Emma climbed out from Hummer too.

"It'll take a lot more that a car crash to kill me!"

They both crawled out from the car and faced the riflemen. They all had their M16s and M8s pointed right at him.

"Déjà vu," Patrick muttered, and reached for his digivice.

"Patrick...Blackagumon's...gone."

"No. He's not." Instead of Patrick's voice, it was his digimon partner's.

Emma was confused by the sudden voice change, but just then Patrick's crest glowed, "Ready?" he shouted, "'Cause here I come!"

**Matrix Evolution Activate!**

**"Warmarinedramon, Mode Change to..."**

**"Warmarinedramon – Blast Mode!"**

The new Warmarinedramon stood before the startled riflemen.

One of the riflemen suddenly copped on, "OPEN FIRE YOU IDIOTS!"

They unleashed a barrage of automatic fire.

"Electron Scramble!" Warmarinedramon waved his hand in front of him, causing all the rounds to suddenly stop in mid air. The riflemen unloaded their entire clip before realising their rounds were getting nowhere.

"Gatling Plasma!" Theriflemen were thencut down by Warmarinedramon's powerful wrist-mounted chain guns. Warmarinedramon cut into the lead Humvee's engine totalling shredding it.

But it wasn't over yet.

Just as Emma was about to cheer, the deep howl of multiple jet engines filled the sky. Seconds later, three squadrons of fighter jets streaked past, consisting of F/A-18 Super Hornets, F16 Falcons and F-22 Raptors.

"Oh my God, they're after Kari!" Emma shrieked, "I told her to head to the portal alone!"

"I know. I saw her."

"What? How?"

"Long story, now come on!"

He picked up Emma and her M16C and launched himself into the sky.

* * *

Kari heard the jets too. 

She ignored it at first but a few seconds later there was the distinct sound of a falling bomb.

The explosion blew Kari face-first into the undergrowth. When she got up, she could hear the crackling of burning wood.

She didn't know it, but that was a Napalm bomb, and there were plenty more to come. Another explosion engulfed a portion of the forest off to her left.

"Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse..."

Getting up, Kari headed onwards into the forest, still slightly shell-shocked from the two blasts. The third bomb hit off to her right, this time a conventional explosion, sending her stumbling.

"I better be close, there's no way I can keep this up for long!"

* * *

Warmarinedramon and Emma could clearly see the blitz as they flew towards the portal. 

"There's no way she can survive that!" Emma screeched.

Just then there was a deep BOOM.

It was distinctly different from the intense bombing going on, and from a different direction…

…behind them.

Meanwhile, a Super Hornet lined up for another attack run, and just as it dropped its payload a missile tore into its rear, turning it into a fireball.

Another three missiles hit their mark on the other fighters, and the bombing momentarily ceased.

The squadron shot past the circling jets at Supersonic speeds, Vulcan cannons blazing.

They were new F-35B Joint Strike Fighters.

"Reinforcements have arrived!" Warmarinedramon shouted with joy, "Where did they come from?"

"Who cares? Just keep flyin'!" Emma replied.

* * *

One of the F-16 pilots yelled into his radio, "FRIENDLY FIRE! AVENGER SQUADRON! FRIENDLY…" He was the next to go. A missile hit him head on, blowing him out of the sky. 

"Screw this, all pilots, engage Avenger Squadron!" One of the F22 pilots ordered.

A dogfight began.

One F16, three F22s and three F18s versus four F35s.

* * *

Kari didn't care about the dogfight above her, all she cared about was the fact that the bombing had stopped. 

And even better, the end was in sight.

She could see light up ahead.

* * *

The only F16 in the dogfight was the first take a missile hit. He made the mistake of following one of the F35s for too long – just long enough for another JSF to come up behind him and shove one up its engine. 

One down, six to go.

The F35 that had been chased noticed a Super Hornet race towards him from his left. He rolled to avoid the missile it fired and stuck on its Vulcan cannon, raking it with bullets as it shot by.

It burst into flames and crashed into the forest.

Five left.

* * *

Noticing that the ground was becoming more sandy, Kari realised she must be geating _real_ close. 

Minutes later, she burst out onto the desert.

"Right, now where are you?"

* * *

One of the F35's missile warning alarms went crazy as three of the Raptors sneaked behind it. Since F22s are partially stealth, they are difficult to see on a radar screen, especially when in a furball like this one. 

Two of the sidewinders fell pray to the chaff the JSF dropped, darting down and exploding prematurely.

The last one, however, overshot the target, because the F35 has a secret weapon.

It can hover.

The pilot activated VTOL mode, causing the main engine to bend down and a turbofan located behind the cockpit to engage, making the jet stop dead, then quickly descended to avoid the missile.

The F22s flew past, before all falling prey to the JSF's XMAA missiles. All three exploded.

Only two to go, and Avenger Squadron hadn't taken a single hit.

It seemed what they say was true - a few Ace pilots _can_ take on multiple squadrons...and win.

* * *

Warmarinedramon finally reached the edge of the forest, and looked around for the portal. 

"There!" Emma pointed over his shoulder.

The digimon turned round and darted towards it.

After they landed Warmarinedramon was about to enter when he noticed something.

"Wait!" He yelled to Emma, but it was too late. She jumped through the black hole.

"Crap."

He prepared himself, and then jumped into the portal himself.

* * *

The two remaining F18s saw they were the only ones left, and attempted to disengage by returning to the castle. One was instantly gunned down by a F35 but the other managed to escape. 

The Avenger Squadron headed back to the USS Firewall to rearm.

* * *

"Nice of you to finally join us," The Dark Master chuckled. 

Warmarinedramon found himself in a small room with Darkmarinedramon and the Ranger squad. The virus type digimon was holding a Deagle at Declan's head. Emma, Tai and Izzy were huddled round Izzy's laptop on a desk in front of the portal.

"At last, I can complete my plan – to create the biggest Time Paradox ever imagined!"

"You're gonna kill you own brother before he grows up? Hows that goning to create a time paradox?"

"I've nothing against Decky, its _you_ I want," He nodded to the five Rangers, who pointed their M16s at the Tai, Izzy and Emma, "Revert to human form and they live."

"So you can shoot me?"

"Well, its you or them."

Warmarinedramon was stuck for words. How could he have become so evil? What could make him change so much?

But he made his decision.

He wasn't going down without a fight.

"Electron Scramble!"

All the guns in the room jammed instantly.

Darkmarinedramon was about to snap Declan's neck when the whole roof of the building was blown away. Everyone looked up to see Imperialdramon Fighter Mode.

"Hey! Mind if we join the party?" Davis yelled from his digimon's shoulder.

Emma wasted no time in knocking the Rangers over with a roundhouse kick, and Izzy and Tai ran out of the room.

Warmarinedramon rugby tackled Darkmarinedramon, knocking Declan out of his arms. They both went straight through the wall and outside into the Digital City.

This time, there would be no escape.

* * *

With the portal finally in sight, Kari broke into a sprint. She wanted through before anything else happened. 

She was so eager to get through, she managed to trip on something just in front of the dark void. Looking down, Kari saw Patrick's M16C.

"That means Patrick and Emma must be here already!" She flung the strap over her shoulder and jumped through the portal.

She never noticed the Blackhawk helicopter parked in the distance.

* * *

The two digimonlanded on the street and immediately engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Darkmarinedramon, however, had the advantage. 

Warmarinedramon was still in Blast Mode, and so had to deal with his wrist mounted chain guns, extra armour and the back ammo packs, meaning he couldn't move as fast as the normal Darkmarinedramon.

After a few blows, Warmarinedramon realised this and launched into the sky. At least he could fly, unlike his normal form.

"Gatling Plasma!" He unloaded his chain guns into the ground at his enemy.

Before the dust settled, a large ball of plasma hit Warmarinedramon head on, knocking him out of the sky. By the time he hit the ground, he had reverted to normal mode.

Now they were even again.

Before Warmarinedramon had time to get up, his nemesis was on top of him, pounding his face in with blow after blow.

Help came in the form of Imperialdramon who literally kicked Darkmarinedramon into a building down the road.

"Positron Laser!" The huge digimon fired at the building, demolishing it instantly.

"That should finish him off!"

"Get out of here!" Warmarinedramon stumbled to his feet, "He's not gone yet, but I'm gonna finish him off."

"We can help!" Ken called from the digimon's shoulder.

"No. This is a fight I gotta finish."

"Fine. But be careful," Imperialdramon said before shooting off.

Warmarinedramon turned to the levelled building his future form had impacted, and saw the rubble begin to shake. Suddenly, Darkmarinedramon charged from the wreckage straight towards into another melee fight with his past self.

* * *

Emma looked down through the hole in the wall at the fight between Warmarinedramon and Darkmarinedramon below. 

Totally by suprise, someone grabbed her from behind and threw her back across the room. She stumbled backwards and straight into the arms of Staff Sergeant Ryan Grey.

"Gotcha now!" He laughed along with the other four Rangers around her.

Before she even had time to think of what to do, 15 shots rang out in quick succession. Ryan released his grip and all the Rangers fell to the floor.

Emma looked around to see Kari holding an M9 handgun out in front of her, the slide was jammed back. She had unloaded the entire clip...with her eyes closed. Emma chuckled and walked over to the girl, who slowly opened her eyes, "Thought it would come in handy."

"Did I...get them?" She asked, handing the gun over to Emma who reloaded it, "By the way, you dropped this." She handed her the M16C.

"Thanks, you did great...but next time, open you eyes!" The both laughed and walked out of the room.

Just as they were about to leave, the leader of the fallen Rangers moaned, "I'm not...gonna die...'cause of some girl...with a gun!"

Emma looked round at the Staff Sergeant, who had a bullet lodged in his back.

"Fine then," Emma took the magazine out of Kari's M9 and threw it at the man, "Keep your honour."

They closed the door behind them and walked down the corridor. A few seconds later, there was a gunshot, followed by the thump of a dead body hitting the floor.

When they reached the entrance to the building, they met Tai, Declan and Izzy.

"Tai!" Kari ran up to her brother.

"Kari! You made it!"

"Yeah, thanks to Patrick."

"Well if thats everyone, I think I'll shut the portal," Izzy hit a few keys on his laptop, sealing the time portal upstairs, "Now lets get out of here!"

Thefour of them walked over to a TV sitting on a desk. Kari produced her digivice and said "Digiport Open!"

* * *

Warmarinedramon saw the flash of the digiport open, and he grinned, "Mission Accomplished." 

Just as Darkmarinedramon was about to grab his enemy, Warmarinedramon excecuted his final attack.

"Terra…EXPLOSION!"

* * *

Imperialdramon had just landed and reverted to Veemon and Wormmon when the explosion occurred. Turning around, they could see the Digital City simply crumble from the powerful blast. A tall plume of smoke rose into the sky. 

"That's why he wanted rid of us!" Davis stomped angrily, "We could've taken that guy on no problem!"

"I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of them," Ken muttered, "Now lets go home."

They walked over to the nearby TV and disappeared.


	28. Epilogue

Epilogue – Tying Up Loose Ends

Kari came home to a great reception from the digidestined, especially Davis, who tried to take some credit for getting there so quickly after Yolei had escaped from the Digital World and told them about the Dark Master coming through the portal.

Tai's digiegg hatched a few days later and soon Agumon was back to his old self again.

TK and Declan's arms healed after a few weeks and TK seemed pretty keen on getting his hands on a firearm again.

Emma went back home to Ireland with Declan, to find the Patrick's school partially rebuilt and the O'Reillyfamily had moved away. She soon found out why.

There was a small memorial just outside the school with the names of all the students and staff who were killed in the 'terrorist attack'. Patrick and Declan's names were both on it.

Emma found her family, who greeted her home with open arms. Declan moved in with her temporarily, but she always wondered if Patrick had survived the Terra explosion…

* * *

The Digital City was nothing more than rubble now. 

Patrick slowly crawled out from under a chunk of concrete and looked around, "Didn't see that one coming, huh?" he shouted, and then started to stumble in the direction he saw the Dark Master in last time.

Eventually, Patrick found him, wedged under a piece of reinforced concrete. He leaned against the slab and looked down at the fallen man, "If you aren't dead already, you really are invincible!"

Then he noticed blood seeping out from under the concrete.

His eyes were open.

His mouth was open.

He was staring into the sky.

One of the reinforcement bars was pieced right through his chest.

Patrick smiled, "Rest in peace…scumbag."

Stumbling off into the ruins of the city, he started to sing random songs to himself.

* * *

Soon after the incident, Declan went missing. That same day, Izzy's laptop crashed. When it came back online, all the data on Time Travel was gone and replaced with a simple txt file: 

_Hey Izzy, just need to borrow this time travel stuff, Decky and I'll be back soon._

_By the way, get a better firewall. I expected more of a challenge. _

**To be continued...**

_

* * *

And thats it! The Crest of Rage is finally DONE! It took me...well would you look at that...exactly one year! Sweet! _

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it...and remember to review because the summer holidays are on the horizon and I've got an idea for a sequel...stay tuned!


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